Albuquerque Police DepartmentAlbuquerque, New Mexico
Cornell
September 7, 2002
Two Fugitives still on the Loose. It has been more than a year since
the drug trafficker Vicente Manuel Tijerina has seen the inside of an
American lockup. On Friday, the former fugitive saw a federal judge in
Albuquerque. Tijerina,31, was extradited this
week to New Mexico after eight months in custody at a jail in Mexico
City. U.S. Marshalls and Mexican federal judicial police recaptured
Tijerina on Nov. 10, 2001, in Sonora state after he and two other inmates
escaped from the Santa Fe County Detention Center on April 7, 2001. The
escape was aided by then-guard Lawrence C. Candelaria, who is now serving a
366-day prison sentence for smuggling into the jail a cell phone, hacksaw
blades, a hammer and a chisel. Candelaria worked for Houston-based
Cornell Corrections Corp., which operated the jail at the time.
Authorities are still looking for Luis Ramon Lopez, 42, and Rodolfo
Ruiz-Godinez, 30. (Albuquerque Journal)

February 24, 2001
The city may sue the company that was transporting Byron Shane Chubbuck when
he escaped to recover the $76,189 the police spent on recapturing him,
Albuquerque City Councilor Tim Kline said Friday. The police spent $49,469
paying officers who would have otherwise been on duty elsewhere. It spent
$20,956 on overtime, and another $5,764 for
helicopter use during the search. Kline said the city deserves assurances
from Cornell that it is examining its security procedures. "My bottom
line is to ensure they take a look at security and do something about it, and
this is the way you get their attention," he said. The Marshals Service
said that the agency itself will transport prisoners in the future rather
than contracting with a private firm. (Albuquerque Journal)

Bernalillo County Detention Center
Bernalillo, New Mexico
Cornell, Correctional Medical Services, Correctional Health ManagementJune 8, 2010 The New
Mexico Independent
Bernalillo County officials have destroyed bid-scoring sheets used in
awarding a $23 million jail health services contract, the Albuquerque Journal
reported Monday. The destruction of public records may have violated the
state public records law, New Mexico Foundation for Open Government (FOG)
director Sarah Welsh said. “(They) are certainly something the public would
have an interest in seeing,” Welsh said. “It seems strange to just destroy
that one part of it. The whole point of open government is so the public can
review decisions that officials are making.” Correctional Healthcare
Management won the $12 million a year contract to provide medical care to
inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center. Correctional Medical Services
(CMS) has held the health services contract for seven years. The County is
investigating millions of dollars in suspected overpayments to CMS during
that time.

April 8, 2009 KRQE
A 13-year-old lawsuit over jail conditions that has already cost Bernalillo
County taxpayers millions of dollars may have to start over, a federal judge
has ruled. U.S. District Judge Martha Vasquez has thrown out a 2005
settlement in the case after lawyers for inmates claimed the county misled
them. Prisoners sued Bernalillo County in 1995 over conditions at the jail,
which at that time was located in downtown Albuquerque at 415 Roma NW. The
prisoners cited inhumane conditions which included overcrowding and lack of
access to health and psychiatric care. In 2005, two years after the
Metropolitan Detention Center opened west of Albuquerque, the prisoners and
the county negotiated a settlement. That deal required the county to meet 14
criteria including controlling overcrowding and providing better mental
health and psychiatric care. The county reported it has since met 13 of those
criteria leaving only psychiatric care still to work out. In a court filing
the inmates' attorneys claimed they recently became aware that the county
still plays a major role in the former downtown jail which it still owns.
That jail now houses federal prisons through a contract with Cornell
Corrections, a private company. Under that contract Cornell must provide monthly
reports on jail operations to the county which include population numbers,
inmate grievances and disciplinary action taken against inmates and staff. In
her new ruling the judge ordered the county to provide the inmates' attorneys
access to the downtown lockup. County Manager Thaddeus Lucero said the county
objected at the hearing and will fight the ruling.

December 26, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
Bernalillo County still doesn't have a valid contract with the private
company running the Downtown jail- even though it opened 11/2 years ago. New
Mexico law requires that contracts with private jail companies be approved by
the state Attorney General's Office before taking effect. The office has
warned Bernalillo County, in a series of letters this year and last, that it
hasn't approved the contract yet and still has a few concerns. For one, state
lawyers say, the contract needs to address what would happen if the county
must send local inmates to the Downtown jail. Right now, that lockup handles
only federal and state inmates and is operated by Houston-based Cornell
Companies. County inmates are housed at a new jail on the West Mesa, where
the skyrocketing population has caused overcrowded conditions. The county's
intention is to create a separate agreement if it ever needs to send local
inmates Downtown, but that's "not acceptable," Assistant Attorney
General Zachary Shandler told the county in a letter last year. "This is
the time to work out the terms of the Management Agreement," Shandler
said. The state had a host of other concerns, such as making it clear in the
contract that the county has "ultimate say" over the jail, not
Cornell. Shandler said his last letter to the county was in February and that
he hadn't received a formal response. Shandler wouldn't discuss what action
the state might take if Bernalillo County never gets the contract approved.
Meanwhile, the county could face legal "exposure" because of the
lack of approval, he said. "The problem generally is that if something
went wrong contractually with their partner or some situation occurred in the
inmate population, they would not have an effective contract ... that
protects the state from certain liabilities," Shandler said.

October 15, 2003
The county refused to put the jail lease out to bid. Instead, it negotiated a
five-year deal after Cornell responded to a request for information.
Although Gov. Bill Richardson expressed reservations about the no-bid
process, Board of Finance Director Mark Valdes said the board did not have
the authority to direct Bernalillo County to put the lease out for
competitive bid. He cited changes made in state procurement law during
the last legislative session. "The board does not have the
authority to not approve the lease and direct the county to do competitive bids,"
Valdes said. Board members did not question the role of Cornell's hired
consultants, Albuquerque attorney Edmund "Joe" Lang and former
Democratic Party National Committeeman Art Trujillo. The two originally
were hired to help Cornell get the lease on the Downtown jail. Lang was to be
paid $2 a day per inmate and Trujillo 25 cents a day per inmate. They
potentially stood to make more than $2 million off the deal combined.
Cornell says those agreements are no longer in effect. The company says Lang's
contract is now "dramatically different" and that Trujillo is no
longer working on the project. (ABQ Journal)

October 13, 2003
A private jail operator that has been awarded a controversial no-bid contract
to operate the old Bernalillo County Detention Center at one point agreed to
pay two politically connected consultants big dollars to help secure the
deal. Former state Sen. Edmund "Joe" Lang and former Santa Fe
Mayor and Democratic Party figure Art Trujillo had the potential to receive
nearly $2.5 million combined from Cornell Companies over a five-year period—
an amount that would hinge on how many inmates were housed in the jail.
Cornell says the agreements are no longer in effect. Lang, a Corrales
Democrat and former Sandoval County commissioner, stood to earn the biggest
payday. Cornell, in a memorandum of understanding dated April 15, 2002,
agreed to pay Lang $2 a day per inmate for the "consulting work that you
will perform in conjunction with Cornell's attempt to lease or purchase ...
the Bernalillo County Jail (Downtown Jail facility)." Cornell had
a similar agreement with Trujillo, a former Bernalillo County Democratic
Party chairman who at the time was conducting what turned out to be a
successful campaign for his party's nomination for state Land
Commissioner. Trujillo, however, was only to be paid 25 cents a day per
inmate— a potential payout of about $273,000 over five years. Trujillo
has a history of friction with County Commission Chairman Tom Rutherford.
Lang and Rutherford are longtime friends and colleagues. The
memorandums to both Lang and Trujillo said payments would commence only after
the "complete execution" of a valid contract between Cornell and
the county. Payments would begin "after the first full quarter of a
fully executed contract and be issued quarterly thereafter for the original
term of the contract." Cornell estimated the capacity of the jail
at 540 inmates after renovation. The county's estimate is about 600 inmates.
Assuming the jail was full, that would translate into a potential fee of
$1,080 to $1,200 a day for five years with a possible five-year
renewal. Five years of operation with 600 inmates would have meant a
payment in excess of $2.1 million to Lang. Those estimates are based on a
jail operating at full capacity, 365 days a year. Paul Doucette,
Cornell vice president for development and public affairs, said in a
telephone interview Friday that both documents are out of date.
"Neither is in effect today," he said. Doucette said
Cornell's current agreement with Lang is "dramatically different"
than the one outlined in the April 2002 memorandum. Doucette would not,
however, discuss specifics. "We consider the details of that
agreement proprietary," Doucette said. "We are still in a very
competitive situation on this project, as the sending of these documents to
the Journal illustrates. Someone is trying to manipulate the
process." He said Lang is a "very valuable consultant who
knows New Mexico very well." Doucette said, "We are no longer
working with Art Trujillo on this project." Trujillo believes his
original contract with Cornell is still valid but says he has been cut out of
any negotiations between Cornell and the county. The contracts between
Cornell and the consultants have not been discussed publicly in the talks
leading up to county approval of the pact with Cornell. Cornell's
contract with Bernalillo County to operate the jail still faces the hurdle of
approval by the state Board of Finance, which balked at approving the pact
earlier this month. Members of the Board of Finance, which is chaired
by Gov. Bill Richardson, questioned how they could be sure the county was
getting the best deal, since the contract never went out to bid. The
board asked for more information and is scheduled to take up the contract
again on Tuesday. Cornell negotiated a five-year lease with the county
to renovate and house inmates at the now-vacant jail. The negotiations,
including talks between Lang and then-County Manager Juan Vigil, were based
on Cornell's reply to a Request for Information sent to private jail
contractors. Under the contract approved on a 4-1 vote by the county
commission in January, Cornell would pay the county about $1 million a year
the first two years of operations with a gradual increase over the next three
years. The company originally offered to pay the county $5 a day per
inmate with a ceiling of $1 million a year. In addition, Cornell would spend
roughly $5 million to renovate the old jail Downtown. The county sent
out the request for information in 2001. It never issued a formal request for
proposals that would state what the county wanted and how the proposals would
be judged. Cornell's competitors and one county commissioner criticized
that decision. All of the county commissioners contacted by the Journal
said they were unaware of the terms of the consulting contracts.
"I wouldn't know about that," Rutherford said. "I do know that
he (Lang) did a lot of work on this." Commissioner Steve Gallegos
said, "Wow. I've never been a lobbyist, so I don't know what they
receive. I don't know if that's high. It doesn't sound right to
me." Commissioner Michael Brasher, who has been critical of the
process and was the sole vote against the lease for Cornell, questioned the
arrangement. "I think we need to have full disclosure of
situations like this. The entire deal has been very curious."
Corporate spokesmen from Wackenhut Corrections Corporation and Corrections
Corporation of America declined comment for this story. Commissioner
Alan Armijo said he would like to see the (Cornell-Lang) agreement.
"Without looking at it and knowing all the details, I don't know if it
bothers me or not ...," he said. Commissioner Tim Cummins said,
"Sounds like he's (Lang) a partner. Whatever arrangement they do is none
of my business." Consultant agreements Doucette, Cornell's vice
president for development and public affairs, confirmed that Lang currently
has a contract with Cornell and that Cornell does enter into contingency
agreements like the one obtained by the Journal. "Like everything
else, we factored it into our costs," Doucette said. "Our proposal
to lease and remodel the jail provides an outstanding value to the
county." But he would not discuss specifics of the consultant
agreements. Lang in a telephone interview said he wouldn't comment on
his contract, also saying that it was "proprietary." Doucette
confirmed that Trujillo did work for Cornell on the jail contract early in
the process, although Lang said he was unaware of Trujillo's involvement in
the lease. The body of the memos from Cornell to Lang and Trujillo are
almost identical except for the amount to be paid. They have the same date
and are signed by the same Cornell official. The memoranda state that
they are good for six months and could be renewed. In a telephone
interview, Trujillo said his contract is still valid, but no one the Journal
interviewed in county government recalled Trujillo being involved.
"I told them (Cornell) how to get this project done ... but Lang has cut
me off totally," Trujillo said. Trujillo was defeated in November
by Republican Patrick Lyons in the Land Commissioner race. Lang is
registered as a legislative lobbyist for Cornell and said that work is
separate from his work on the county jail lease. State law prohibits
legislative lobbyists from working on a contingency fee like the one outlined
in the memorandum of understanding. "I haven't talked to any
legislators on Cornell's behalf," he said. There is no state
prohibition on contingency fees for lobbying local governments on
jails. Friendship is separate Lang and Rutherford acknowledge
a longtime friendship. They attended high school together and served in
the state Senate at the same time. They are both lobbyists and sometimes work
for the same clients. Both said their friendship had nothing to do with
the Downtown jail lease. Rutherford said he is also friends with the
lobbyists who represent Cornell's competitors— Corrections Corporation of
America and Wackenhut. Those two companies asked the commission to put out a
request for proposals. There is a small group of people who do
lobbying, and they all know one another. I sat on the Senate committee that
approved Ed Mahr (lobbyist for Corrections Corporation of America) as
Corrections secretary back in the 1970s. I served in the Senate and on the
commission with Les Houston (lobbyist for Wackenhut Inc.) for years,"
Rutherford said. "We're all friends," Lang said of his
competing lobbyists. "We (Cornell) gave the only responsive price
which the county asked for in its request," Lang said. "Nobody has
ever said they could beat our price." Both men said the
commissioner who pushed the jail privatization was Steve Gallegos, hoping to
use the money generated by the lease to fund a psychiatric unit at the $90
million Metropolitan Detention Center on the West Side. "This is
simply a mechanism to get the psychiatric unit built at the new jail,"
Lang said. That sentiment was echoed by Rutherford and Cummins, who
said the building was essentially useless sitting empty. Court and
police officials have suggested using part of the facility as a Downtown
holding and booking facility— an idea rejected by the county. Gallegos
said he is not a proponent of privatizing jails but believes the county had
to come up with some way to build a psychiatric unit at the new jail.
"I pushed it as a public facility, and I don't believe in privately run
jails," Gallegos said. "It was really out of frustration that I
said let's try the private sector." "I want that psych unit
built," Gallegos said. "I know that inmates with mental health
problems are abused in jail. I've had personal experience with family members
with mental health problems and I know how important this unit
is." "What it really came down to was Cornell put numbers up
and the others didn't," Gallegos said. "Why didn't the others? Are
they serious or not? "Later, the other guys come back and say
we're playing an unfair game. But I think Cornell played it straight with
us." Gallegos said, "The problem in this state is that
everyone's connected. Les Houston worked for Wackenhut. I know Ed Mahr with
CCA very well. He's a friend. I've known Tom Rutherford for years and years.
I don't know Joe Lang that well." How it all started
The county put out its request for information on renovating and
privatizing the Downtown jail in October 2001. At that time,
commissioners expected the jail to be empty by the following summer when the
new West Side jail was supposed to open. The idea was criticized by the union
representing officers at the jail and seemed to die. In January 2002,
Gallegos began pushing the idea of the county running the Downtown jail as a
facility to hold federal inmates. Any profits would go to building a
psychiatric unit at the new jail. Negotiations with the U.S. Marshals
Service hit a stumbling block when federal officials said they could not
guarantee a fixed number of inmates because that would violate federal
policy. In April 2002, Cornell inked separate memorandums of understanding
with Lang and Trujillo to act as consultants on securing a lease or purchase
of the Downtown jail. Talks between the county and the Marshals Service
for federal funds to renovate the old jail broke down when the county failed
to meet a key deadline for filing paperwork for federal renovation
funds. In the fall of 2002, the commission resurrected its discussion
of a private jail operation. The county had received general letters of
interest from Wackenhut and Corrections Corporation of America. Cornell
was more specific. It gave the county a quote of $5 a day per inmate, with a
ceiling of $1 million a year. In January 2003, County Attorney Tito
Chavez told commissioners they could negotiate a lease with Cornell because
of its response. He advised that the county was not required to put out a
Request for Proposals— citing a specific state law that allows local
governments to negotiate jail agreements based on a simple request for
information. At the end of November 2002, the commission authorized
Vigil to negotiate with Cornell. The decision was unanimous.
Then-Commissioner Les Houston, whose term expired in December, urged the
county to put out a Request for Proposals but recused himself from voting
because he represented Wackenhut. "We felt there was a time crunch
which in hindsight, because of the delay in opening the new jail, wasn't
valid," said Cummins, who was chairman at the time. "But at
the time there was some feeling of urgency." In January 2003, the
commission approved a lease with Cornell for the old jail. The lease was
amended in June 2003, when Cornell agreed to pay for the renovations.
There have been some technical changes in the lease after it was reviewed by
the Board of Finance. Board members have asked the county for figures from similar
types of jail deals. "Comparisons from jail to jail are
difficult," Brasher said. "That's the argument for going out to a
Request for Proposals. That's how you find out what the value of that jail
Downtown really is." Rutherford said, "The Board of Finance
is doing their duty to review this carefully." (ABQ Journal)

June 11, 2003
Bernalillo County commissioners on Tuesday approved plans for a private
company to renovate the Downtown jail and house federal inmates there. The
commission voted 4-1 in favor of revising its lease agreement with
Houston-based Cornell Companies Inc. The earlier agreement had called for the
federal government to pay for renovations. Under the new
proposal, Cornell would pay for the renovations, which are expected to cost
$5 million. The proposal still must go before the state Board of Finance. The
approval came despite objections by Corrections Corporation of America, which
said the county should allow other companies to compete for the jail.
"Why not open it up and get the best deal you can?" asked Frank C.
Salazar, an attorney for CCA. (ABQ Journal)

June 11, 2003
When Bernalillo County signed a contract with Cornell Cos. in January to
lease the City-County Jail building, it was riding on the hope the federal
government would come up with a big chunk of the nearly $4 million needed to
renovate the lockup. That hope was a dim one, said the head of the U.S.
Marshal's Service in Albuquerque. The county was counting on getting a
Marshal's Service grant to repair the Downtown jail and meet a major
condition of its contract with Cornell, a private corrections company, county
Public Safety Director John Dantis said Thursday. However, the county
missed its chance to receive a $3 million grant when the money was made
available last year, said Gordon Eden, U.S. marshal for New Mexico.
"There is no extra money now," he said. "It could be several
years until the Marshal's Service will be able to provide them with money for
renovations." Each year the Marshal's Service allocates grants to government
agencies to upgrade jails to meet the agency's standards. Cornell would be
contracting with government agencies to house federal prisoners in the
jail. The grant appropriation has been steeply declining over the past
three years, Eden said. The amount available nationwide was $35 million in
fiscal year 2001, $20 million in 2002 and $5 million in 2003, he said.
Now, the county and Cornell are in negotiations to figure out who will pay
for the jail repairs. A Cornell spokesman said the Houston company is
willing to pay for the renovation but declined to comment on what it expects
in return. In June 2002, the county was made aware it would not receive
the $3 million Marshal's Service grant because it had missed a May deadline
to turn in paperwork, Eden said. Dantis said the county had asked for
an extension before the deadline in order for the County Commission to
approve grant changes made by the Marshal's Service, but it was denied.
"When the Marshal's Service deemed the county unresponsive, they
allocated that money to other government agencies who
needed the money," Eden said. The county contract with Cornell in
January states the county would "use its best efforts" to secure a
Marshal's Service grant. "How can you obligate federal funds you
don't have?" Eden said Thursday in reference to the contract.
County officials said at that time they were planning to apply for the
Marshal's Service grant again. In April, the county asked the Marshal's
Service for funding, but it is not depending on that money, Dantis
said. "We're looking at a number of options to fund the
renovations," he said.
Under the contract, the county is responsible for electrical, plumbing,
security and roof repairs and several other categories of renovations to the
building. The county has not looked into paying for the repairs using
its own money, Dantis said, and referred inquiries to county financial
officials. County Manager Juan Vigil was out of town Thursday, a
spokeswoman for the county said, and could not be reached for comment.
Under the terms of the contract, Cornell would pay $888,888 in rent during
the first two years of the lease, with rent increasing to $1.2 million in the
third year. The county planned to use the revenue from the Cornell
lease to add a mental health facility to the new Metropolitan Detention
Center, a 2,100-bed facility on the West Side that is now in the process of
being filled with inmates from the county's three jails. Repairs to the
Downtown jail cannot begin until the county moves all its inmates to the new
lockup. The $86 million building became ready for occupancy two weeks ago, a
year behind schedule. Cornell spokesman David Monroe said his company
needs to wait until the old jail is vacant and the renovations are complete before
it can house its inmates. The company doesn't have a scheduled move-in date
for inmates, he said. "The county has taken a bit longer than we
anticipated," Monroe said. "We want to do it as soon as possible
but with the appropriate parameters." Cornell already has signed
contracts with government agencies to house inmates in the Albuquerque jail,
Monroe said. He declined to give any details on those contracts.
Cornell's system includes about 70 detention facilities nationwide.
County Commissioner Michael Brasher said the county might have to solicit
companies that want to use the Downtown jail and could get it up and
running. "If Cornell can't come up with the money," he said,
"Maybe they (county officials) can find someone who can pay for the
renovations." (Albuquerque Journal)

January 15, 2003Bernalillo County commissioners approved a proposal to rent the
Downtown jail to a private corrections company Tuesday — despite a potential
snag over funding for renovations.Both the county and Houston-based Cornell Companies Inc. can terminate
the lease agreement if funding for the jail renovations doesn't come
through.As part of the proposal,
federal inmates could end up at the Downtown jail. Commissioners directed county
officials to try to work out agreements with the U.S. Marshals Service.Commission Chairman Tom Rutherford said the
lease is important because it will put the Downtown jail to "beneficial
use" after inmates there are moved to the new Metropolitan Detention
Center. The moving date is uncertain.But Gorden Eden, U.S. marshal for the district of New Mexico, told the commission that federal money for the
jail renovations isn't available now. He said he would work with the county
to get funding but couldn't promise the money for renovations. (ABQ
Journal)

January 14, 2003Two former city councilors set to join the County Commission today
will have a chance to make a historic decision — whether to rent the Downtown
jail to a private corrections company.The proposed lease agreement would make the jail — for the first time
— a privately run detention center.As
part of the proposal, the county would try to work out an agreement with the
U.S. Marshals Service to house federal inmates there.There are no plans to house city and county
inmates there. The Downtown jail would be vacant after local inmates are
moved to a new lockup on the West Mesa.Bernalillo County didn't seek formal bids from companies interested in
the project. Instead, officials began negotiating with Cornell after issuing
a request-for-information. (ABQ Journal)

November 27, 2002
Bernalillo County commissioners on Tuesday authorized further negotiations
with a private company interested in running the Downtown jail as a holding
center for federal inmates. The commission's 4-0 vote allows County
Manager Juan Vigil to continue negotiating a lease agreement with Cornell
Companies Inc. The county also will try to work out an agreement with
the U.S. Marshals Service. Anthony Marquez, president of the jail
employees' union, spoke against bringing in a private company. The
country would have more oversight if it hired its own employees to run the
Downtown jail, he said. Private companies "are there to make a
buck," Marquez said. (ABQ journal)

October 9, 2001
Bernalillo County commissioners today are scheduled to consider taking the
first step toward transforming the Downtown jail into a holding center for
federal inmates. The proposal, sponsored by Commission Chairman Steve
Gallegos, would authorize the county to submit an application to the U.S.
Marshals Service to launch the program and remodel the jail to meet federal
standards. Commissioner Les Houston said he is "philosophically
opposed" to having Bernalillo County run a federal holding center. The
county soon will be busy enough operating the 2,100-bed Metropolitan
Detention Center under construction on the West Side, he said. Houston
suggests the county either lease the old jail or sell it. "If we
are going to operate a jail for profit ... then it should be operated by professionals,
such as one of the national private operators," Houston said. But
Gallegos, who opposes having a private company run the holding center, said
Houston should excuse himself from discussion of the application. Houston is
a registered lobbyist for Wackenhut Corrections Corporation.
(Albuquerque Journal)

Camp Sierra Blanca
Ruidoso, New Mexico
CiviGenics (formerly run by AMI)
December 11, 2008 Ruidoso News
A switch to community-based programs for young offenders in New Mexico and a
decision by the Camp Sierra Blanca program management company to exit the
juvenile sector leave the future of the camp northeast of Ruidoso in doubt. Community Education Centers officials last month confirmed
the company that operates the CSB program would not renew its contract with
the state Children, Youth and Families Department, because the company
planned to terminate its juvenile operations. Kevin Duckworth, CEC Mountain
Region Director, said Thursday the company will end its operations on Jan.
31, by mutual agreement. The camp staff was notified and relocation
opportunities were offered to other CEC facilities where possible, he said.
Last month, a spokesman for CYF indicated the company would stay on until
June 30, the end date of the current contract. At that time, Bob Tafoya said
CYFD officials were considering options for the best and highest use of the
camp, which over the past few years was updated with modular living units and
a renovated cafeteria. Romaine Serna, public information officer with the
CYFD, said Thursday discussions continue on the future of the camp that over
several decades evolved from a minimal security work prison for adult male
offenders, to adult women and then for juveniles.

February 15, 2006 Albuquerque
Journal
Five teenage boys who walked away from a juvenile jail Monday were taken into
custody Tuesday morning, but questions remain about why the facility near
Ruidoso has had two breakouts in two months. The teens, ranging in age from
17 to 19, were at Camp Sierra Blanca as part of their paroles and probations.
They were picked up by State Police and Lincoln County Sheriff's officers
about nine miles from the camp on Highway 380, near Capitan. "We're very
concerned," said Deborah Martinez, spokeswoman for the Children, Youth
and Families Department, which oversees the camp. "We want to understand
what is going on that's causing these boys to walk away, and prevent it from
happening again," she said. A spokesman for CiviGenics, the Boston
company that has run the fenceless, rural facility since June, said jail
security depends on the staff's vigilance and their ability to maintain
relationships with the inmates. "The opportunity to run is so
great," said George Vose, vice president of CiviGenics.

August 11, 2005 KVIA
The state Children, Youth and Families Department has paid 212-thousand-500
dollars to settle a dispute with a company that had run Camp Sierra Blanca.
The Albuquerque Journal reports today that the money has been paid to
Florida-based Associated Marine Institutes. In exchange for the payment,
A-M-I has agreed to withdraw a protest it filed after it lost the contract to
operate Camp Sierra Blanca. The Children, Youth and Families Department
initially had refused to reveal the amount of the payment. The state earlier
this summer transferred the operation of Camp Sierra Blanca to a for-profit
Boston company, CiviGenics. A-M-I lost the contract to run the juvenile
detention facility because of a technical error on its bid.

May 24, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
Officials from Associated Marine Institutes, the Florida organization that
operates a juvenile detention camp near Ruidoso, say they'll fight the
state's decision to turn the center over to a new contractor. Last Friday, an
attorney for AMI presented the Children, Youth and Families Department with a
notice of protest over the bidding process that began in April. AMI has run
Camp Sierra Blanca since its inception in 1997. The rural, farm-like camp has
been praised by politicians, judges and children's advocates for its success
in rehabilitating teenage boys. Officials from the Children, Youth and
Families Department say they have entered into budget negotiations with
CiviGenics of Boston, the only other company that made a bid to run the camp.
The protest alleges that AMI's contract proposal was disqualified because
budget information was put in an appendix of the proposal instead of in the
body of the document— something AMI officials say they were told was
acceptable. The protest contends that CYFD restricted AMI's oral presentation
during the final stage of the procurement process. CYFD also failed to select
a proposal evaluation committee that met procurement standards, according to
the document.

May 13, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
Supporters of Camp Sierra Blanca, a juvenile detention center near Ruidoso,
are questioning the state's decision to disqualify a contract bid from its
operator on what they consider to be a technicality. U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce,
R-N.M.; state Sen. Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces; and U.S. District Judge
William "Chip" Johnson say the state's decision could be a result
of the conflict that arose last summer when the Children, Youth and Families
Department tried to close the facility.Some Lincoln County residents have established an "advocacy
support fund" to save Camp Sierra Blanca and its current contractors,
American Marine Institute, said Harvey Twite of radio station KEDU. The
station is spearheading the effort. Under AMI's management, Camp Sierra
Blanca has reported a 90 percent success rate in rehabilitating delinquent
boys. AMI, a nonprofit company based in Florida, has managed the camp since
its opening in 1997. A letter sent from CYFD to AMI officials on May 6 said
the disqualification was because of AMI's failure to provide required information.
Camp officials claim data from two columns was put in an appendix, which they
contend CYFD approved. CYFD is currently negotiating with CiviGenics to run
the camp. CiviGenics, a for-profit correctional company from Boston, was the
only other firm to submit a bid.

May 11, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
After a long fight to keep a juvenile detention facility near Ruidoso open,
the organization that has run the center has been informed it is out of a
job. Officials from Associated Marine Institutes, Inc., which has managed
Camp Sierra Blanca since its inception in 1997, say state officials didn't
play fair when they awarded a new contract to CiviGenics, a for-profit
correctional company from Boston. AMI officials said they are considering
challenging the decision. The state's current contract with AMI, a nonprofit
company based in Florida, expires June 30. In a news release Monday, CYFD
said it was entering into contract negotiations with CiviGenics, the only
other organization to submit a proposal. CiviGenics operates adult prisons in
14 states and juvenile facilities in four. "The process has saddened
me," said state District Judge Karen Parsons, a Camp Sierra Blanca board
member. "If we were being dealt with in good faith, they should have
told us there was a technical problem (with the proposal). But the outcome
was predictable in light of the way (CYFD) Secretary (Mary-Dale) Bolson has
treated AMI." Tensions began building last summer when CYFD announced
the camp would close in an effort to incarcerate fewer juveniles and
rehabilitate them in their communities. An outcry from the residents of
Lincoln County and supporters of the juvenile justice system prompted Gov.
Bill Richardson to halt the closure. Supporters pointed to a 90 percent
success rate and heavy community support as reasons to keep the low-security
facility open.

Camino Nuevo Women's Prison
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Formerly run by Corrections Corporation of America
February 17, 2012 Albuquerque Journal
A federal jury Thursday ordered over $3 million in damages to three former
inmates raped by a prison guard at Camino Nuevo Women’s Correctional Facility
in 2007. The intertwined state and federal claims, coupled with questions
about who must pay the compensatory and punitive damages, however, are
certain to engender more litigation – probably from both sides. Jurors heard
over a week of testimony before U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson before
they were charged with rendering a verdict late Wednesday. It took the jury a
day to work through the 10-page verdict form with over 30 questions relating
to victims Heather Spurlock, Nina Carrera and Sophia Carrasco, and two sets
of defendants. They included former guard Anthony Townes, who is serving a
16-year state prison sentence for criminal sexual penetration and false
imprisonment, his then-employer Corrections Corporation of America and
Barbara Wagner, the warden of Camino Nuevo at the time. The court had ruled
before trial that Townes was liable for violating the constitutional rights
of the inmates to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. But he left it
to the jury to decide if CCA and Wagner were liable for negligent supervision
– the jury said yes – and whether they also had violated the inmates’ rights
by discouraging inmate complaints – the jury said no. Jurors awarded $100,000
in compensatory damages each to Spurlock and Carrera, and $125,000 to
Carrasco. They ordered CCA to pay $5,000 in punitive damages to Spurlock and
$50,000 in punitive damages to Carrasco.

February 16, 2012 Albuquerque
Journal
A federal jury on Thursday returned a verdict awarding compensatory damages
of $100,000 to two victims and $125,000 to a third raped by former
Corrections Corporation of America officer Anthony Townes, now serving a
16-year prison sentence for the criminal sexual penetration of four women.
The jury also awarded each plaintiff in the lawsuit $1 million in punitive
damages against Townes — awards are certain to face additional litigation.
The jury found CCA and Barbara Wagner, the then-warden at the Camino Nuevo
Women’s Correctional Facility, had not violated the constitutional rights of
the women but ordered some punitive damages against them based on other
conduct. The rapes occurred while the women were inmates at the facility in
2007.

February 9, 2012 Albuquerque
Journal
Victims of sexual assault by a corrections officer at an Albuquerque contract
prison facility for women told a jury Wednesday that they didn’t report the
incidents because they didn’t think they would be believed. They also said
they thought making waves would inevitably bring retaliation in the form of
lost good time, recreational time or tossed prison cells. Heather Spurlock,
39, now working as a medical receptionist, and Sophia Carrasco, 47, who
cleans rooms at a resort hotel, were inmates at the Corrections Corporation
of America-run Camino Nuevo facility in 2007. In a situation where it was an
inmate’s word against a corrections officer, they said they were confident
they would come out on the losing end. Camino Nuevo, they said, was run with
intense discipline, little tolerance and few rehabilitative programs, even
though it was presumably a minimum-security lockup and a halfway step on
their way to release from incarceration. Both said the women’s prison at
Grants had been congenial and supportive, in contrast to Camino Nuevo, where
they spent hours picking up rocks and demolishing “anything green” during
outdoor work details and frequent periods of lockdown in their cells. The
sexual assaults by Anthony Townes occurred over a six-month period to
Spurlock and once in the early morning hours to Carrasco. Townes is serving
an 18-year criminal sentence for his state conviction in Bernalillo County
for the rapes of four female inmates, three of whom are involved in the civil
lawsuit against him, CCA and its then-warden. The trial began Monday in
Albuquerque before U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson.

February 8, 2012 Albuquerque
Journal
A female inmate raped by a prison guard in 2007 testified Tuesday about
conditions at the newly opened Camino Nuevo facility in Albuquerque where she
had been moved from the women’s prison in Grants. Heather Spurlock Jackson,
39, was the first witness at the civil trial in U.S. District Court brought
against the guard, Anthony Townes, now serving an 18-year prison sentence for
raping her and three other women. Other defendants are the prison operator,
Corrections Corporation of America, and then-warden Barbara Wagner. Spurlock,
Sophia Carrasco and Nina Carrera allege federal civil rights violations
because they say inmate complaints were discouraged. They also contend that
CCA and Wagner were negligent in hiring and in supervision of the contract
facility. Spurlock described a setting that was harsher and less organized
than the women’s facility in Grants where she had spent the previous five
years without write-ups. She said Grants was strict but that it had programs
— she had earned two associate’s degrees through a distance learning program
while there — and staff who recognized the humanity of the residents.
Spurlock and the other 200 or so inmates moved to Camino Nuevo hadn’t
volunteered for the transfer but seemed to have been picked at random, she
said. They were loaded onto buses and taken to the old Bernalillo County jail
in Downtown Albuquerque because Camino Nuevo wasn’t ready. They stayed there
for three months before being taken to the new facility, which still seemed
unready to receive them. There were no programs, no handbook and only a
minimal briefing before the women were locked down in their cells. Spurlock
will testify starting today about the rape, but her attorney, Nicole Moss,
said Townes “raped, stalked, threatened and terrorized” inmates at the
facility and that his behavior went unchecked without anyone intervening.
U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson already has determined liability for
Townes. The question for the jury of eight will be the amount of damages
attributable to him and whether and how much damages the company and the
warden should be responsible for. Daniel P. Struck, a Phoenix lawyer
defending CCA and Wagner, told the jury in his opening statement that the
women had numerous opportunities to report the sexual assaults but did not,
including through a tip line that went to the state Corrections Department. “It
wasn’t fear (of retribution) that kept them from reporting,” he said.
Spurlock, serving a 16-year term for embezzling $16,000 from a nonprofit, was
involved in a voluntary relationship with Townes, he said, and there was an
effort to conceal it.

October 11, 2011 Albuquerque
Journal
Onetime prison guard Anthony Townes is now about two years into an 18-year
state prison sentence after he admitted raping four women at Camino Nuevo
Women’s Correctional Facility in 2007. The civil lawsuit filed by some of the
women, however, still is months away from being resolved. Trial in the 2009
case filed by Heather Spurlock and two other former inmates at the detention
facility was to have begun this month. Several postponements were requested
by the defendants including Townes, former warden Barbara Wagner and the
Corrections Corporation of America, the private contractor that operated the
prison at the time. Camino Nuevo in 2007 was run as an adult prison and was
taking overflow from the women’s prison in Grants. It is now a juvenile
detention center operated by the state Children, Youth and Families
Department. A primary reason for the latest trial delay was the late
disclosure of two additional women who claimed sexual abuse by Townes but who
are not involved in the civil lawsuit. The defense said it needed more time
to interview those witnesses before trial. Attorneys for the victims said
their anticipated testimony about “the traumatic, invasive and highly
personal experience of sexual assault” is only made worse by having to
repeatedly prepare for trial. CCA was well aware of the additional sexual
assault victims, anyway, they said. U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson,
who has now set a firm trial date of Feb. 6, previously ruled Townes civilly
liable for the rapes. He has dismissed some claims against CCA. Among
questions for the jury will be whether Townes’ assaults can be legally
charged to CCA negligence or deliberate indifference in operating the
facility, principally over what the victims contend was a custom of
discouraging inmate complaints against staff. The women’s lawyers will try to
give the jury a picture of what happened during the incidents, as well as the
context in which each assault took place and how CCA responded. Plaintiffs’
expert Manuel D. Romero said in a report he believes CCA “did not provide a
safe and secure living environment for (women) in the Camino Nuevo facility.”
He said the fact that “such horrific crimes” could be undetected for several
months shows there are “systemic failures within the facility.” He said in a
report there was a “clear lack of accountability over Mr. Townes and his
movement within the prison.” Plaintiffs’ attorneys may also seek to place
Townes’ assaults in the broader context of underreporting of prison problems.
Documents in the court file include excerpts from testimony before the U.S.
House Judiciary Committee in 2008 about a former CCA
manager-turned-whistleblower who said the company maintained dual sets of
quality assurance reports. The versions sent to government contracting
agencies reportedly failed to include “zero tolerance” events including
riots, escapes, unnatural deaths and sexual assaults at company-run
facilities. CCA has said in court documents that it put Townes on leave and
required him to surrender his badge.

November 20, 2009 KRQE
A judge sentenced a former correction officer who raped four female inmates
to 18 years in prison after emotional pleas from his victims. "I knew
him as a monster, a liar a man who thought because of his position he was
wanted by all but could do as he pleased," one of the victims said.
Anthony Townes pleaded guilty to four counts of rape and false imprisonment.
The rapes occurred between January and August of 2007 at Camino Nuevo, which
is a privately run lockup for female state prison inmates. Despite the guilty
plea, Townes denies hit committed the crimes. He told the judge Friday that
the only reason he pleaded guilty was to avoid a longer prison term. He said
the women are lying. "There is no fear factor. I would never threaten
anyone else's kids. I have a grandmother, mother a girlfriend, a sister and
4-year-old daughter, so therefore I would not do that to any woman because no
woman deserves that," Townes said. Townes faced 36 years in prison if he
was convicted by a jury.

October 12, 2007 The Review
A former Alliance man who is accused of sexually assaulting inmates at the
women's prison that employed him may be facing life in prison. Bond was set
at $500,000, cash only, by Bernalillo County Judge Sandra Engle for Anthony
Shay Townes, 33, of Albuquerque, N.M. Townes, a member of Alliance High
School's 1993 graduating class and a football standout for the Aviators
during his senior year, is charged with four counts of criminal sexual
penetration, a second degree felony; four counts of sexual contact, a
fourth-degree felony; and four counts of kidnapping. According to Bernalillo
County Sheriff's Department Detective Lorraine Montoya, Townes faces up to 33
years in prison (or life) on each second-degree felony charge. According to
the affidavit submitted by investigators, Townes is accused of raping and
sexually assaulting four female inmates at the Camino Nuevo Correctional
Center, a private minimum security prison where he was employed between
February and August. Montoya said investigators are still awaiting tests on
DNA evidence that would link Townes to the attacks in this ongoing
investigation. Victims testified that Townes snuck inmates out of their pods
at night and out of view of security cameras to avoid detection by his
supervisors.

October 11, 2007 Albuquerque
Journal
Before Anthony Townes started working at Nuevo Camino in July 2006, he went through a school offered by the Corrections
Corporation of America, according to the company's Web site. He was also trained
on where all of the cameras were positioned. Three CCA prisons are accredited
by the American Correctional Association. Camino Nuevo had yet to receive its
accreditation. The prison is supposed to go through an ACA audit next month.
ACA officials told the Journal on Wednesday that there are no standards
regulating where cameras should be placed and how much of a prison should be
monitored. CCA's spokesman Steve Owen said his company would wait to review
camera placement after the sheriff's office finished its investigation. But
"I don't think there is a correctional facility in the country that has
every area of a prison covered by a camera," he said. "Cameras are
one of many things you utilize to maintain safety and security in a facility."

October 10, 2007 Albuquerque
Tribune
A male prison guard is in jail on charges he raped four female inmates in the
privately run Camino Nuevo women's prison in Albuquerque. Corrections Officer
Anthony Shay Townes, 33, was arrested Tuesday by Bernalillo County sheriff's
investigators. According to a criminal complaint: A teacher working in the
women's prison in early August overheard a conversation between inmates about
one of them having DNA evidence to prove some sort of relationship. With more
digging, the teacher and her supervisors learned the inmate was discussing
having had a sexual encounter with a corrections officer. One of the inmates
told the supervisor that the corrections officer was Townes. Townes was
immediately placed in a position without inmate contact, then
placed on leave a day later. He is currently on unpaid leave, prison
officials said. Townes is at the Metropolitan Detention Center with bail set
at $500,000 cash-only. Sheriff's deputies were called to the prison on 4050
Edith Blvd. N.E., the former maximum security juvenile facility, on Aug. 14
to start an investigation into the allegations. On Aug. 18, they were called
back again, this time because another inmate told supervisors that Townes had
raped her earlier that week. Two more inmates also told investigators Townes
had attacked them. Their similar reports to detectives include being taken to
an area in the facility out of view of cameras and being assaulted by Townes.
One inmate said she was attacked several times beginning in February. Another
inmate reported being taken out of her cell at 2:30 a.m., an unusual time to
leave her cell but ". . . when a C.O. tells you to do something, you
just do it," she told detectives, according to the complaint. That woman
told detectives she saw Townes sneaking other women out of their cells at
night. Prison spokesman Steve Owen said Townes was hired in October 2006,
shortly after the prison opened. Owen said that as the first of the
allegations surfaced against Townes, he was immediately placed on leave and
authorities were immediately notified.

Central New Mexico CF
Los Lunas, New Mexico
Aramark
July 31, 2012 KOB News 4
There has been a lot of bad press around correctional facilities in New
Mexico over the last six weeks. But Corrections Secretary Gregg Marcantel
said it is all part of a culture change. Two employees of food vendor Aramark
have been arrested over the last six weeks for smuggling contraband into
prisons. Candace Holmes was arrested for smuggling drugs into a correctional
facility in Las Cruces in June. Then on Sunday, Mel Baca admitted to
smuggling food into the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Los
Lunas. A fellow food vendor suspected Baca of the smuggling and reported it.
Baca admitted to the crime during an interview with the prison officers, but
that just started his contraband list. Officers searched Baca's lunch box and
found a cell phone, something Secretary Marcantel called a "serious
violation." Then officers searched his car, finding alcohol,
prescription drugs and "about a 12-inch long knife," Marcantel
said. The officers were not sure whether Baca planned on smuggling those into
the prison, but the fact he had them in his car is a criminal violation. Baca
was arrested for a fourth-degree felony of smuggling contraband into a
correctional facility.

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Inmates at
the privately run federal lockup in Cibola County have ended several hours of
protesting. Several hundred prisoners refused to leave the recreation yard at
the Cibola County Correction Center in Milan Wednesday. It ended peacefully
around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. No one's saying what it was all about. The
center, run by Corrections Corporation of America, holds prisoners awaiting
trial on federal charges.

03/27/2013 kob.com

About 250 inmates at the private
Cibola County Correctional Center were reportedly being
"non-compliant" to guard’s orders and gathered in the prison’s
recreation yard for several hours Wednesday. The Cibola County undersheriff
tells KOB the inmates are "being peaceful." The unrest began at
about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday and was continuing at least through 2 p.m.
Wednesday afternoon. Law enforcement called to set up outside the scene include New Mexico State Police, Grants Police, Milan
Police and the Cibola County Sheriff’s Department, as well as guards from
other prisons. The Cibola County Correctional Center is all-male,
minimum-security facility with 1129 beds run by the Corrections Corporation
of America. KOB has a crew on the way – stay with us for details.

ec 30, 2012 cibolabeacon.com
CIBOLA COUNTY – A three-year tax dispute was settled in less than 10 hours,
according to Cibola County Commission Chairman Eddie Michael. Recently,
Chairman Michael, along with an attorney for Risk Management, met with
representatives from the Correction Corporations of America (CCA) in
Albuquerque to settle a three-year-old property tax dispute. CCA is
contracted to manage the Cibola County Corrections Center in Milan and the
New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants. The Milan men’s prison
has nearly 1,500 inmates while the Grants women’s prison has slightly more
than 500. Apparently, CCA was disputing the amount they have been charged in
property taxes since 2010. Their property tax had gone from a taxable value
of $52 million in 2009 to $78 million in 2011, Michael said to the Beacon
last week. CCA was disputing their taxable value for 2010, 2011 and 2012. “In
today’s economy, I don’t know how property tax can be raised so high,”
Michael said in regard to the hike. He did note that in 2010, the state had
mandated the county to raise property taxes 15 percent because they hadn’t
raised taxes in several years. “Besides that, I don’t understand why there
would be such a big increase,” Michael said. After eight hours of
negotiations, Michael and CCA, in a handwritten agreement, settled on a
taxable value increase of $2.4 million, from $52 million to $54.4 million,
for the Milan prison, and, from just more than $26 million to $28 million for
the Grants prison. “Ultimately, CCA and the county felt $54 and $28 million
were fair,” Michael explained. “I asked the rest of the commissioners, in
closed session on Dec. 12, for approval on the deal. On Monday, Dec. 17, they
voted unanimously to support it. Following the settlement, the county will
receive $2.7 million in tax revenue from CCA for years 2010, 2011 and 2012.
“This will hike our cash reserves to approximately $8 million,” said Michael.
“We had been working on this for two years. We finally got the chance to sit
down and get the deal done, and now we move on. “It was my job to work the
deal, ultimately, it is the commissioners’ decision to support it or not.
Thankfully they did.” According to Michael, as of late last week, the deal
was still based on the handwritten agreement. However, Michael said he
expected everything to become official by the end of this week. The Beacon
was unable to reach CCA officials for comment yesterday because their
corporate offices are closed on weekends.

September 19, 2007 AP
The state Court of Appeals has ruled that a private prison company is not
entitled to a refund of taxes for operating prisons that house inmates for
the state and federal governments. Corrections Corporation of America had
sought a refund of state gross receipts taxes, claiming it was allowed a
deduction for the leasing of its prisons under agreements with the Department
of Corrections and the federal Bureau of Prisons. The Court of Appeals
concluded Tuesday there was no lease of real property. "The fact that
CCA had the right to fill up any extra space with inmates from other
jurisdictions coupled with the governmental entities' paying based on the
number of inmates housed, makes these agreements look more like those between
'hotels, motels, rooming houses, and other facilities' and 'lodgers or
occupants' than leases for real property," the court said in an opinion
written by Judge Michael Bustamante. The company built and owns prisons used
by the state and other governments: the New Mexico Women's Correctional
Facility in Grants, the Cibola County Correctional Center near Milan and the
Torrance County Detention Facility at Estancia. In 2002, the company filed
for a refund of nearly $2.5 million for taxes from January 1999 to October
2002. A state district court in Santa Fe ruled against the company in 2005.

September 18, 2007 AP
The state Court of Appeals has ruled that a private prison company isn't
entitled to a refund of taxes for operating prisons that house inmates for
the state and federal governments. Corrections Corporation of America had
sought a refund of state gross receipts taxes. The company claimed a
deduction for the leasing of its prisons under agreements with the Department
of Corrections and the federal Bureau of Prisons. The court ruled today that
there was no lease of real property. In 2002, the company filed for a refund
of nearly $2.5 million for taxes from January 1999 to October 2002. In its
appeal, the company dropped some claims but didn't specify the amount of
refund it was seeking. CCA operates a prison at Grants that houses state
female inmates. It also has a prison in Torrance County and contracts with
the Bureau of Prisons to hold federal inmates near Milan in Cibola County.

August 30, 2007 Cibola Beacon
The Beacon recently received several calls from residents concerned about the
safety of the community because of the staff shortage in the areas prisons.
All three prisons, Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Grants, Cibola
County Corrections Center (AKA Four C's) in Milan and the New Mexico Women's
Correctional Facility, also in Grants, are currently in need of correctional
officers. Four C's in Milan is the most needful of officers. Currently, it is
38 officers short. The facility has a total of 159 CO positions,
therefore it is now understaffed by 24 percent. “First, there is absolutely
no risk to be concerned about,” Warden Walt Wells said on Wednesday. “We
continually analyze the staff to be sure we have the adequate staff to
protect our inmates, employees and the community. We'll never let it fall to
the level to where there is a risk.” According to Warden Allan Cooper at the
Grants women's facility, Americans Corrections Association says the ratio of
inmate to corrections officer should be about 580 inmates to 76 staff, about
65 of the latter being correctional officers. “The public will never be at
risk,” said Cooper. Cooper's Administrative Assistant, Lisa Riley, said they
have to fill all the posts no matter what. “If it costs us lots of overtime,
that doesn't matter,” Riley said. “We have our requirements that have to met by the state.”

July 4, 2006 Cibola Beacon
Cibola County Undersheriff Johnny Valdez announced Friday that marijuana was
recently found at two local prisons. CCSO Deputy Mike Oelcher and Deputy Dog
Ashe found a small amount of marijuana in an inmate’s bunk at the Cibola
County Detention Center and behind a pay phone typically used by inmates in
the common area of a pod last Tuesday. Burnt residue weighing .2 grams found
in an inmate’s bunk will not result in charges, he explained. Even the
district attorney did not want to press charges even though bringing drugs
into a prison, regardless of amount is a third-degree felony, according to
CCSO officials. No one will be charged for the marijuana found behind the pay
phone either. “It’s a common area and they can’t charge any one with it,”
said Undersheriff Valdez. CCSO arrested Corrections Corporation of American
Women’s Correctional Facility inmate Stephanie de Santiago, 22, of Roswell,
for possession of marijuana at the facility a week ago Monday. The drug was
found during a routine search of the inmate after she spent time with a
visitor. The marijuana tested positive with a test kit at the prison, which
allows probable cause for the arrest, said CCSO spokesman Lt. Harry Hall. Lt.
Hall said the street value for the marijuana is not known at this time, but
the district attorney’s office will prosecute Santiago and possible charges
are pending against the visitor who brought the drug into the facility.

February 29, 2004
Some families of inmates housed in the Cibola County Detention Center are
upset at the fees being charged to prisoners. There is a $10 booking
fee, a $5 release fee and various fees for medical costs. The Grants
Police Department is upset about these fees as well, when they apply to city
prisoners being booked at the county jail. "We're being charged a daily
rate of $57 per inmate housed by the county and yet they still charge the
inmates a fee as well," said Chief Marty Vigil. Cibola County
Detention Center Administrator, John Gould sees it as part of doing business.
"We figure it costs about $70-$75 a day per prisoner. And it's not like
we charge them $15 a day. It's a one time administrative cost whether they're
in jail for one day or 300 days." When asked if the daily cost of
housing prisoners was $70, then why was the City only charged $57, Gould
replied that it was to "give the City a break." Gould said,
"why should citizens who haven't committed any crimes pay for those who
commit them? These people think nothing of peddling drugs near our children's
schools. They are not bothered by burglarizing an honest person's home and
stealing their hard earned possessions. But, when the county chooses to establish
a fee for being booked in the detention center, these people call out to the
honest and hardworking citizens of Cibola County, their victims,
because they do not think they should be made to pay for a small portion of
their incarceration. They feel that the community they victimized owes
them." Last fall, the commission voted to approve charging inmates
these fees. (Cibola Beacon)

February 12, 2003
Cibola County residents and doctors are opposing the County Commission 's efforts to sell the county hospital. Acting
County Manager David Ulibarri said Tuesday the possible sale of the hospital
and construction of a county jail are not linked. He said gross receipts
taxes have been dedicated to pay off the jail. The county currently contracts
with a private company, Corrections Corporation of America
, for prisoner space, but wants to build its own jail to slice the
cost, Ulibarri said. The county built the current CCA-run jail about 1994,
intending to house not only the 40 inmates the county averaged then, but also
to house state prisoners for a fee. However, the Johnson administration later
removed state prisoners from Cibola County . CCA
then came in with an offer for the jail, which it expanded to house federal
prisoners, Ulibarri said. In the years since, he said, the cost of housing
county prisoners with CCA has risen along with the average number of county
inmates - now about 80 a month. Inmate care now runs about $1.3 million a
year, Ulibarri said. The county wants to build a jail because "we can
find ways to cut our own costs, we can control our own destiny," he
said. (AP)

July 5, 2002
A teacher at Cibola County Corrections Center has been charged with criminal
sexual penetration for allegedly having sex with an inmate in a prison
office. Ortega, who taught federal inmates at the privately run center
was having sex with an inmate May 20 when the prison's chief of security
walked in on the couple, court documents said. The prison houses
foreign nationals from Mexico and south America who entered the country
illegally and committed nonviolent crimes. The prison is operated by
the Corrections Corporation of America. (The Associated Press)

December 14, 2001
A government watchdog group is satisfied with an agreement by judges in
Cibola County to ensure future court hearings in the county are open to the
public. Robert Johnson, executive director of the New Mexico
Foundation for Open Government, wrote state District Judge Louis McDonald
after the public was kept out of a hearing in the Cibola County Corrections
Center in August. McDonald said it was never a matter of not wanting the
public to attend the hearing, but rather an issue with the location of the
hearing in the private prison. (AP)

August 3, 2001
An Albuquerque man charged with murder after being accused of running down a
state police officer had initial court appearance Thursday out of public view
behind the gates of a private prison. Cibola County Magistrate Jackie
Fisher held the initial appearance before noon for Zacharia Craig, 19, at the
Cibola County Corrections Center, where such proceedings have been held over
the past year because of a crowded courtroom in Grants, six miles away.
The appearances for Craig, his brother Aron Craig and other prisoners
Thursday were closed. The prison says it requires 24 hours' notice to
screen visitors for security reasons. News media who sought access
learned about the hearing Thursday morning. The procedure was
questioned by Albuquerque attorney Marty Esquivel, who handles open records
and open meetings issues. "Regardless of where the courtroom
activity takes place, there is traditionally a right of access to this type
of criminal proceeding and it must be observed," he said. "Preventing
access to judicial proceedings in jail raises a red flag for First Amendment
concerns as well as issues regarding the defendant's right to a fair
trial," Esquivel said. The magistrate court and the correctional
center entered into an agreement about a year ago to hold initial appearances
in the prison. Magistrate Eliseo Alcon of Grants said the pact came
about because he became worried about security at his courtroom. Alcon
said that if people want access to a particular hearing, they must notify the
jail so a different place can be set up for that appearance. First appearance are the only proceedings held at the prison,
Alcon and Don Russell, executive assistant to the warden, said.
Arraignments - in which defendants enter pleas - are held in Grants,
generally in district court for felonies. (AP)

April 25, 2001
The Cibola County Corrections Center in Milan remained under lockdown Tuesday
as prison officials tried to determine the cause of an inmate protest that
ended the night before with tear gas. Preliminary interviews with
inmates at the privately run prison suggested they protested over food
service or the price and availability of items at the prison commissary, said
Don Russell, executive assistant tot he warden. Of the prisoner's 818
inmates, 766 are federal prisoners and the rest are in the custody of Cibola
County, Russell said. The federal inmates all are illegal immigrants
who have been convicted in the United States and are subject to deportation
after they serve their prison terms, he said. Inmates at the same
prison staged another nonviolent protest in December over food portions,
menus and the price and selection of items at the commissary, Russell
said. Inmates at the low-level security prison in Milan receive a diet
containing 3,200 calories a day, Russell said. ( Journal Capitol
Bureau)

April 24, 2001
An inmate protest at a privately-operated prison was a result of concern
about food and, for some prisoners, taxes, authorities said. The
protest, in which more than 600 inmates refused to leave the exercise yard
and go inside the Cibola County Correctional Facility, lasted about 12 hours
Monday. Inmates were unhappy with food served, and with having to pay
gross-receipts taxes on items purchased in the prison's commissary, state
police Capt. Glenn Thomas said. The jail, operated by Tennessee-based
Corrections Corporation of America, houses mostly federal prisoners from out
of state. (Koat/Daily News)

April 24, 2001
Prison officers interviewed inmates Tuesday a day after lobbing tear gas at
them to end a 655-inmate protest in the institution's recreation yard,
apparently over prison food. "Over the next few days, we will
conduct an in-depth incident debriefing and follow up to determine the cause
and prevent future incidents from occurring," said Steve Owen, director
of marketing for Corrections Corporation of America, which owns and operates
the Cibola County Correctional Center. Inmates spent 12 hours milling
around the recreation yard after refusing to go to education classes or work
assignments. The prison on Tuesday remained under lockdown, meaning
prisoners are confined to their cells. The inmates, housed in Cibola
County under a contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, are criminal
aliens -- people who are not U.S. citizens who have been convicted of
felonies in federal courts across the nation and who are subject to
deportation proceeding once their sentences end,
Owen said. A few inmates in the yard carried signs protesting
racism. However, Don Russell, a spokesperson for the prison, said
Monday the protest centered on complaints about prison food and the prison
commissary. He refused to go into detail. Owen said Tuesday he
could not confirm what the protest was about. (AP)

April 24, 2001
The standoff is finally over -- several hours after inmates refused to leave
the recreation grounds at a private prison near Grants in New Mexico Monday
night. Authorities finally got the situation under control around 9:30
P.M. local time after they were forced to throw tear gas into the recreation
yard of the Cibola County Correctional Center Monday night in an effort to
get the inmates back into the prison. Over 600 inmates had been in the
yard since 8:00 A.M. Monday morning. (KOAT/Albuquerque)

April 24, 2001
Authorities fired tear gas Monday night to break up a daylong protest by
about 700 inmates at a private prison. The prisoners were to be
handcuffed, checked for weapons and returned to their cells, State Police
Capt. Glenn Thomas said. That was expected to take several hours.
"All day long, they were not complying with anything," Thomas said
of the inmates at the Cibola County Correctional Center. "We finally had
to do something." The inmates refused to leave the recreation yard
about 8 a.m. to go to classes or work assignments, Steve Owen, director of
marketing for Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America, said
in a statement. (AP)

CiviGenics Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitative Center
Fort Stanton, New Mexico
CiviGenics
August 26, 2004
Darcy Holmes said she didn’t mind being tested for drug use during a surprise
facility-wide search at the CiviGenics Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitative Center
at Fort Stanton Tuesday. But she was infuriated that she and other
staff were herded into a circle and kept at gunpoint for hours with offenders
on probation and parole during the search. “I feel they put our lives
at risk,” said Holmes, a semi-retiree who worked the past five months for the
Massachusetts-based company that is under contract with the state Corrections
Department. “Someone could have taken a hostage or if a riot broke out,
shooting could have started. I think they violated our safety. We were
surrounded by officers from Carlsbad and Roswell with semi-automatic weapons
and they held guns on us for three hours.” Tia Bland, public
information officer for the corrections department, said Wednesday that, “We
believe the whole operation was handled professionally. Staff and offenders
were rounded up, but weapons were not pointed at anyone. However, we needed
to ensure they remained in one place while the whole facility was
searched.” The department received information about possible drug use
by staff or offenders and decided a facility-wide search was needed, Bland
said. “We were pretty pleased not to find a whole lot,” she said. “They
found a few minor drug paraphernalia and mushrooms that we are having
tested.” This isn’t the only incident that she says points to a
disregard for staff safety, Homes said. “Our radios don’t work and when a duty
officer is doing a head count, (he or she) has no way to communicate.”
Kevin Beckworth, the regional manager for CiviGenics based in Colorado, said
the fort has three times the number of radios required and there is no reason
they shouldn’t be an adequate number charged and ready to use at any
time. Holmes already had decided to quit her job and today is her last
day at the fort. David Lucero, another employee who has given notice,
said he arrived about 4 p.m. and saw police cars and officers carrying
M-16s. He said the first man handcuffed is Cuban and doesn’t understand
English well. “I don’t think they made it clear they weren’t supposed
to stand,” he said. “They handcuffed him for at least two to three
hours. If he had gotten mad and something started, we couldn’t contain them.
We were in there and if rounds were fired, we were in the middle.” But
Lucero said his big gripe is that after the inmates were upset by the search,
he and a female employee were left to watch them overnight. That’s about 41
offenders to one guard, he said. The staff is “run ragged,” he said and
more employees are needed. “Over the last six months, I made more than
$4,000 in overtime because they can’t get enough people to work or to hire,
or they don’t last. “We’re working 12 to 16 hour shifts and we’re
tired. No one get raises because we’ve burned up all the overtime because the
program director didn’t hire anybody for three or four months in a
row.” The ratio of employees to offenders also is too small on trips
into town, he contended. Beckworth said two-person staffing is normal
for the night shift. “The director at any time has the authority to
bring on more people if the situation requires it,” he said, noting that
several employees live on-grounds for any quick emergency response.
Lucero also criticized the prison-like atmosphere at the center. “This
is a rehab center, not a prison, but it’s run like a prison,” he
said. “We’re in it for the guys to get rehab.” He said he doesn’t
think that’s the same goal at the corporate level. “When I have voiced my
opinion in past, they won’t listen.” Lucero said he’s worried violence may
erupt at the fort someday, damaging property and possibly resulting in injury
to people. According to company information, CiviGenics, the second
largest privately-held corrections operator and the largest provider of
correctional treatment programs in the United States, was incorporated in
1995 and operates in 14 states with a staff of more than 1,200. The
company took over from The Amity Foundation about a year ago. (Ruidoso
News)

Curry County Jail
Curry County, New Mexico
May 12, 2009 Clovis News Journal
Most counties that hire private companies to run their jails find they have
the same problems, but less control with the same accountability, a team of
three experts told Curry County commissioners on Tuesday. Manny Romero with
the New Mexico Association of Counties shared a “snapshot” of pros and cons
with commissioners at a special meeting. Romero said it has been his
experience that most counties that try privatization end up dissatisfied or
have significant difficulties and retake control of their jails. Romero
conducted an assessment of the Curry County Adult Detention Center in
September, on the heels of the escape of eight inmates on Aug. 24. In his
report, Romero cited “abysmal” structural issues, training, staffing and
outdated policies and procedures as top issues plaguing the facility. When
considering private or county jail management, there are security problems
either way, he said, explaining profit-driven companies often shortstaff and
undertrain, don’t pay their people as well as governments and may cut other
corners to save money and increase profit. “There’s going to be a profit
motive, that’s how they work,” he said. And there are too many factors
involved to predict if money will be saved for the county. But they also have
certain freedoms government doesn’t, he said. They can fire substandard
employees quickly with far less due process than government can, they can make
purchases without being bound by laws requiring bidding procedures, often
finding better deals or buying more quickly. However, under law, jails are
not a responsibility that can be delegated away from the county, explained
Steve Kopelman, NMAC risk management director. “The county will always be
named in the lawsuit,” he said. “You can negotiate your contract really well
(but) the buck stops with the Commission anyways. ... You have to do due
diligence and do your homework because there are so many pitfalls.” Currently
only one New Mexico county, Lincoln, has a private company running its jail,
Bruce Swingle with NMAC told commissioners. At least five other counties
tried privatization, a concept that gained a lot of momentum in the 1990s,
but returned to running their own jails, often because of liability claims
that arose. Most often, employees of private corrections companies have
prison backgrounds and bring that knowledge with them to county jails, but
that creates a problem because, “what’s allowed in a prison is not always
allowed in a jail. There’s a big difference between the two,” Swingle said.
An example Swingle pointed to was a private company that engaged in illegal
strip searches of Santa Fe County inmates. Essentially counties found that to
reduce their liability exposure, they had to give up control of the
facilities and give private companies authority to manage as they saw fit.
“If you’re going to do it, do it. If you’re not, then stay the heck out of
it,” he said. Swingle said the crux of the problem lies in the fact that, “If
you get involved in it you’re going to be liable. If you stay out of it, you
have no control.”

Gallup Detoxification CenterGallup, New Mexico
Na'Nizhoozhi Center Inc.
December 8, 2003
A county commissioner hopes the new Gallup-McKinley County Adult Detention
Center will focus more on helping more inmates change their lives rather than
just making money off their incarceration. Meanwhile, upper management
of the private prison company, Management Training Center, who will soon be
leaving Gallup for good, expressed their thoughts on working in Gallup and
gave advice to the county jail staff. Jail administration went solely to the
city and county at 5 p.m. Monday. McKinley County Commissioner Billy
Moore, who is a member of the city/county Jail Authority Board, said the city
and county government will make errors in the beginning in a trial- and-error
system until they fully learn what they're doing. That's to be expected,
Moore said. "We're going in with a new attitude and a fresh look.
We hope we can do something positive for the jail," Moore said.
Moore has no experience at running a jail, but he said he thinks the county
has been missing out on the profit MTC obviously made. "They're making a
profit, or they wouldn't be there," he said of the private
company. Moore doesn't believe the private prison company's money came
as much from out-of-state inmates because they were only a small percentage
of the jail's overall population. But he said the board might have to look
into taking on out-of-state prisoners if they start losing money. He doubts
that will happen. "They have incentives to keep people in
jail," Moore said of private companies like Management Training Center.
"We have incentives to get them out and get them treatment. Especially
in the cases of DWIs." (Gallup Independent)

April 3, 2002
A lawyer is suing Gallup's detoxification center, alleging it is illegally
detaining people against their will and violating state laws. The lawsuit,
filed by William Stripp of Ramah on behalf of Lewison Watchman, also contends
the Gallup Police Department and the McKinley County Sheriff's Department put
people in Na'Nizhoozhi Center Inc., known as NCI, when they should not be
there. Stripp, in his filing Monday in state District Court, asked that the
lawsuit be considered a class action. If approved, class action status would
let those put in the center over the past few years become parties to the
lawsuit and possibly get compensation if it is successful. The lawsuit wants anyone
who was illegally detained to be compensated at a rate of $5,000 a day. NCI
has said 18,000 individuals are picked up and placed in the center each year.
Stripp said the rate was derived from the settlement of a lawsuit Watchman
filed against the city last year after being placed in NCI for four days
against his will. He settled the lawsuit for $20,000. "The police should
be enforcing the laws against false imprisonment," Stripp said. NCI
officials said they could not comment because the lawsuit is pending. The
lawsuit contends NCI does not have proper certification from the state to
operate as a health center and that the city and county are violating the law
by allowing the center to hold people there against their will. Stripp said
he plans to seek an injunction prohibiting police from taking people to the
center until NCI proves to the court that it has the proper licenses and
certifications. Gallup Police Chief Daniel Kneale said he visited the center
last week to check its certification and found it had the proper
certification to detain people who had alcohol or drug problems. The lawsuit
also alleges the center habitually puts more people in a room than allowed by
state law, that staff members at times threatened people placed there or
"touched or applied force to plaintiffs in a rude, insolent or angry
manner," and that people were put together in locked rooms with no
privacy. The lawsuit also contends police officers and sheriff's deputies
turned over people to NCI without adequately investigating whether the center
was authorized to hold people as a licensed "health care facility."
Some of those picked up don't meet the requirement of having their mental or
physical functioning substantially impaired as a result of alcohol, the lawsuit
alleges. (Albuquerque Journal)

A former prison physician accused
of fondling multiple inmates during medical exams at two contract men’s
prisons in New Mexico is under criminal investigation by the U.S. Department
of Justice. Dr. Mark Walden has also been suspended from the practice of
medicine and has filed a notice of bankruptcy. The Justice Department’s
notification to Walden that he is the target of an inquiry into the alleged
violation of inmates’ civil rights is revealed in documents filed in three
civil lawsuits now consolidated in U.S. District Court. Documents say Walden
was notified in writing that “he is the target of a criminal investigation
regarding alleged sexual abuse of male inmates at the Northeastern New Mexico
Correctional Facility in Clayton and at the Guadalupe County Correctional
Facility in Santa Rosa.” The prisons are privately operated by Corizon Inc.
The civil lawsuits against Walden, Corizon and others were filed on behalf of
about three dozen current or former inmates at the two prisons by attorneys
Katie Curry, Brad Hall and Frances Crockett Carpenter. Defendants moved the
case to federal court. Walden’s attorney in the civil lawsuit said she does
not comment on pending litigation. But in an answer she filed on behalf of
Walden in one of the civil lawsuits, he denied performing any digital rectal
exams that were not medically necessary or that were inappropriate in length
or methodology. He denies sexually abusing inmates at anytime or that any
conduct on his part was unreasonable, cruel or harmful. Walden also contends
that the claims are barred by the statute of limitations and the Prison
Litigation Reform Act and the New Mexico Tort Claims Act. The inmates have
made claims in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to protect any recovery they may receive
in the civil litigation. U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Torgerson stayed the
civil cases in August until the bankruptcy is resolved. Walden was entitled
to an automatic stay by virtue of his bankruptcy filing. Torgerson extended
the stay to other defendants, including Walden’s former employer The Geo
Group Inc., now called Corizon, wardens Erasmo Bravo and Timothy Hatch, and
the health services administrator. There are no details on the Justice
investigation, which has apparently been underway since before the civil
litigation began in March. According to a statement from Corizon, the company
“is unaware of any criminal proceedings being filed at this time. We will
cooperate fully with any investigations related to this matter.” The wardens,
Geo and Corizon filed answers in the civil cases in which they have denied
allegations of negligent hiring and supervisions, medical malpractice and
civil rights violations. The inmates have asked the court to permit the
litigation to go forward without revealing the names of the plaintiffs
because of the potential of greater harm and victimization. But one of
Walden’s attorneys in the civil suits has denied sexual abuse allegations
contained in the request and opposed the request for anonymity, saying inmate
lawyers are engaged in a media campaign to “impact the pending litigation.”
Walden’s attorney Nicole Charlebois said in a written filing that the unnamed
plaintiffs attacked Walden in the media before even serving him with the
complaint. Plaintiffs’ lawyers, she said in the filing, are “manipulating the
underlying litigation, tainting the public perception and tainting the
potential jury pool,” and that Walden has a right to know his accusers,
“especially in light of their aggressive media tactics.” Suspension: The New
Mexico Medical Board suspended Walden from practice in July, after sending
him notice of contemplated action and getting input from two physicians hired
as experts who reviewed available records. The board ordered Walden to
undergo a thorough psychological evaluation arranged by the New Mexico
Monitored Treatment Program, which was to send its findings and recommendations
to the board for review. The recommendations “must demonstrate to the board’s
satisfaction that (Walden) is fit to safely practice medicine.” The board
will then determine his further licensure status. The board hired as experts a urologist with 33 years experience, including 5˝ years
participating in a prison clinic, and an emergency medicine physician
described as having expertise in correctional medicine. The urologist said
his review of the evidence indicated “sexual contact with a patient” by Walden
on many occasions that were not legitimate medical procedures and constituted
sexual abuse. The second physician found that Walden had not breached the
standard of care and that his treatment of inmates was appropriate for the
patient complaints documented in medical records. That doctor questioned the
credibility of the inmates’ statements “because several of them indicated
(Walden) had examined them without gloves, which (he) found very unlikely to
have actually occurred.” Walden invoked his Fifth Amendment right and refused
to testify at the medical board hearing.

Among over 40 pages of proposed
factual findings:

•Walden regularly performed
digital rectal examinations of inmate patients in their 20s and 30s. The
Clayton prison offered exams routinely for men over age 50 and for men under
50 if they had specific complaints warranting such an exam.

•He did twice as many rectal exams
each month as any other doctor at the Clayton facility, according to a prison
nurse.

•A 40-year-old patient at the
prison in Clayton asked a corrections officer as the inmate left the medical
unit in July 2012 “if (Walden) was gay, and expressed discomfort with the
examination he had received.” The officer prepared a statement based on the
inmate’s statements that the doctor had turned him over and stroked his
genitals. That was the only comment about any presumed sexual orientation of
the doctor.

•Another patient reported on Aug.
5, 2012, that Walden had “played with” his testicles without gloves.

•A 28-year-old inmate reported that
Walden called him for medical exams for three weeks straight on a Friday or
Saturday, gave him a rectal exam and studied his penis.

•Another inmate filed a grievance
about an Aug. 20, 2012, incident in which he said Walden asked him to drop
his pants, rubbed his genitals and asked if it felt good.

•In patient statements provided by
the facilities in response to a subpoena by the board, Walden diagnosed a
prostate condition not confirmed by an independent analysis.

•Inmate patients are generally not
referred out because of time, expense and safety issues in transporting
prisoners off site.

•Only one patient at Santa Rosa
filed a grievance with a nurse.

The hearing officer noted inmates
“may be manipulative and will commonly do things for purposes of secondary
gain,” such as getting strong pain medicine, special shoes or mattresses.

Mar 17, 2013 abqjournal.comA New Mexico inmate claims he got an overly long and intrusive rectal
exam when he went to the prison doctor for a torn meniscus in his knee. And
his complaint isn’t the only one. Eighteen inmates in two separate civil
lawsuits claim they were fondled or given intrusive exams – even when they
weren’t needed – by Dr. Mark E. Walden, the prison physician at the time. The
claims that Walden used his position to sexually abuse inmates are being made
by men incarcerated at prisons in Santa Rosa and Clayton. Both prisons are
operated under contract with the state by the Boca Raton, Fla.-based GEO
group, a firm that operates detention and re-entry facilities in Australia,
Canada, South Africa and Britain, as well as the U.S. Walden was an employee
of Corizon, a private contractor that provides healthcare services at over
349 correctional facilities across the country. The company, which is based
in Tennessee, has a four-year, $177.6 million contract to provide prison
medical services in New Mexico at both public and privately run prisons.
Katie Curry of the McGinn Law Firm in Albuquerque, attorney for one group of
prisoners suing Walden, GEO Group Inc., Corizon, prison wardens Erasmo Bravo
and Timothy Hatch, and health administrator Sherry Phillips, said another
attorney represents another 10 or so clients with similar complaints. “That’s
who has come forward, but these guys move around a lot (to other prisons),”
Curry said. “I can imagine there are others who are reluctant to come
forward.” The lawsuit filed by Curry alleges at least 25 known victims. The
New Mexico Medical Board is investigating Walden and, on Feb. 18, issued a
notice of contemplated action. No hearing has been scheduled, but it is
likely to take place in April or May, a board spokeswoman said. “As a matter
of standing company policy, Corizon does not comment on any litigation.
However, Corizon can confirm that Dr. Walden is no longer on staff,” said
Courtney Eller of DVL Public Relations & Advertising in Nashville, which
handles media inquiries for Corizon. GEO Group spokesman Pablo Paez said in
an email that the company, as a matter of policy, “cannot comment on
litigation related matters, but we can confirm that Mr. Bravo and Mr. Hatch
are employed by GEO and Dr. Walden is not employed by GEO.” Walden, who is
now working in a medical practice in Raton, did not return a call for
comment. He also allegedly failed to use proper hygiene and disease prevention
techniques by not using gloves when he examined inmates. Prison
administrators and Corizon didn’t ensure that a third person was present to
protect the integrity of the exams, according to at least one of the suits.
The potential for sexual abuse and sexual misconduct toward inmates by prison
employees is well-known institutional problem, the lawsuits say, and
administrators have a duty to protect the inmates. Inmates often view
reporting abuse as futile because of the humiliation and retaliation they
risk and the prospect of losing access to medical services, the complaints
say. Doctors have far greater social status than inmates, further
exacerbating the imbalance, they say. GEO and Corizon should have known about
the abuse through inmate reports and the perceptions of staffers such as
nurses, “or kept themselves willfully blind” to it, according to Curry’s
lawsuit. “Corizon and GEO did not encourage reporting or documentation of
these incidents, and enacted no discipline or retraining of … Walden,” the
lawsuit says. Curry said there was a written complaint about Walden by an
inmate in September 2011, “and apparently nothing happens, so it’s literally
like the Catholic church where they know something and transfer him someplace
else.” She said lawyers know a copy of the complaint went to State Police and
that GEO was made aware of it. Walden initially worked at the Guadalupe
County Correctional Facility in Santa Rosa and was later transferred to the
Northeastern New Mexico Detention Facility in Clayton. One of the
consequences of the alleged abuse, Curry said, was that some inmates stopped
going to see Walden, even though they needed medical treatment. The lawsuit
says staff became suspicious after Walden was hired “based on observations
including a sudden notable increase in volume of digital rectal exams being
performed, unindicated digital rectal exams on young inmates (and) refusal by
defendant Walden to have a third party present.” An inmate who went to Walden
for urinary tract issues and had an examination that was “excessive and
inappropriate” and conducted without gloves reported the incident and had a
sexual assault exam performed in Santa Fe, which revealed two anal tears,
according to the lawsuit. “Corizon and GEO did not encourage reporting or
documentation of these incidents, and enacted no discipline or retraining of
… Walden.” - McGINN LAW FIRM: A separate lawsuit filed by Frances Carpenter
of Albuquerque on behalf of nine more inmates says the abuses began in 2010
and continued through July 2012 during both routine and “symptom specific”
examinations. They included digital anal penetration and probing and
stimulation of the genitals. One inmate who saw Walden with a request for
hemorrhoid cream was told he need to be examined first, the lawsuit says, and
during the exam was penetrated by the doctor’s “entire ungloved fist.” The
inmate, who reported the incidents to prison officials, continues to have
nightmares and anxiety related to the alleged assault. Both lawsuits, filed
in 1st Judicial District Court in Santa Fe, allege negligent hiring and
retention, civil rights violations, negligence and breach of contract. They
seek unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. Meanwhile, the medical
board is expected to set a hearing this spring based on allegations that
Walden, during prostate exams on some 17 inmates, “touched or attempted to
touch these inmates in an inappropriate, sexual manner.” The board notice
says Walden was subject to a “corrective action” for incomplete medical
records that led the Union County General Hospital to terminate his
privileges, and he did not report it to the board. The notice also says
Walden’s professional medical liability insurance was canceled and that he
gave incorrect information about it on his license renewal in 2011. Inmates
say routine exams turned into horrific assaultsSee PRISON on PAGE A9from PAGE
A1Prison doctor accused of sex abuse; inmates claim assaults”Corizon and GEO
did not encourage reporting or documentation of these incidents, and enacted
no discipline or retraining of … Walden.”<quote_attribution>McGINN LAW
FIRM

April 25, 2011 The New Mexican
The two for-profit firms that run four of New Mexico's 10 prisons often
struggle to keep correctional officer jobs filled, state records show. One in
five such jobs at a Hobbs facility was vacant for much of the past 15 months,
while the prison in Santa Rosa reported a vacancy rate of around 12.5 percent
over the same period, according to the records. By contract, New Mexico can
penalize The GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America, the two firms
that operate the facilities, when staffing vacancies are at 10 percent or
more for 30 consecutive days. It's a threshold that appears to have been
crossed multiple times at all four prisons since January 2010. The vacancy
rate at Hobbs topped the 10-percent threshold in each of the 14 months for
which data was available between January 2010 and March of this year.
Meanwhile, the 10-percent threshold was topped nine times over that period at
Santa Rosa and six times at a Clayton facility. Like the Hobbs facility, both
are run by GEO. A CCA-operated prison in Grants topped the 10 percent rate
four times over the same period. Whether to penalize the out-of-state,
for-profit firms is an issue that has come up before. The question surfaced
last year when state lawmakers were struggling to find ways to close a
yawning state budget gap. At the time, the Legislature's budget arm, the
Legislative Finance Committee, estimated Gov. Bill Richardson's administration
had skipped $18 million in penalties against the two firms. One powerful
lawmaker said Monday the issue is still important and the Legislature
shouldn't lose sight of it. "We'd like to follow up and perhaps do a performance group review on the private prison
operators to see whether they are making excessive profits," Rep.
Luciano "Lucky" Varela, D-Santa Fe, said of the Legislative Finance
Committee. Varela, the committee chairman, said he can accept a reasonable
return for the prison operators, but high vacancy rates at prisons operated
by the firms raise questions about how state dollars are being spent to
operate the facilities. Determining whether the companies should be penalized
for high vacancy rates is an involved process, a Corrections Department spokesman
said. GEO and CCA might have asked corrections officers already on the job to
work overtime to address the staffing situation. If they did, the department
"cannot in good faith consider that position to be vacant,"
spokesman Shannon McReynolds wrote in an email. But the state doesn't know
whether that happened. That would require going through shift rosters at each
privately operated facility, McReynolds said in a follow-up phone interview.
"That will take a decision from the administration," McReynolds
said, referring to new Corrections Secretary Lupe Martinez. "We do not
have specifics on overtime. Every once in awhile we'll hear a particular
facility has spent a lot on overtime." Because of sporadic
record-keeping at the facilities GEO and CCA operate, the state corrections
agency couldn't verify last year how often the two firms violated the
vacancy-rate provision in their contracts, if at all. As a result, the agency
couldn't corroborate or refute the Legislative Finance Committee's estimate of
uncollected penalties. Joe Williams, then-corrections secretary, decided not
to pursue penalizing the two companies, saying GEO and CCA were making a
good-faith effort to keep the facilities staffed. The contracts give the
corrections secretary discretion to waive the penalties. If Lupe Martinez,
the new corrections secretary, decides to collect penalties, it would be only
for January 2011 and onward, McReynolds said. Gov. Susana Martinez took power
in January and soon afterward appointed Lupe Martinez, no relation, as her
corrections secretary. According to state records, of the four privately
operated prisons, Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs has struggled the most to keep correctional officers on the
job. The facility's vacancy rate hovered above 20 percent for 12 of the 14
months for which there was data between January 2010 and March of this year.
That includes seven consecutive months — September 2010 through March — when
the vacancy rate was 25.24 percent, records show. GEO-run Guadalupe County
Correctional Facility in Santa Rosa reported a 16.93 percent vacancy rate
last July, a high point. The vacancy rate has hovered below 10 percent in
five of the last seven months. Another GEO-run facility, the Northeast New
Mexico Correctional Facility in Clayton, showed a similar trend, reporting
vacancy rates higher than 10 percent for six of the seven months for which
data was available between January and August 2010. Data for July 2010 was
missing. As in Santa Rosa, the Clayton facility's vacancy rate has dropped in
recent months. The state's fourth privately operated prison, CCA-run New
Mexico Women's Correctional Facility in Grants, reported a vacancy rate above
10 percent four times from January 2010 to July 2010, with a 16.47 percent
vacancy rate reported in July. The state corrections agency did not have data
for August 2010 to March 2011.

September 10, 2010 New Mexico
Independent
The state appears to have been within its rights last year to repeatedly
penalize two private prison operators for letting their vacancy rates hover
above a 10 percent trigger in their contracts, state records show. By
contract New Mexico can levy penalties against the two firms – GEO Group and
Corrections Corp. of America (CCA) — when staffing vacancies at the facilities
they manage in Hobbs, Grants, Clayton and Santa Rosa stay at 10 percent or
more for 30-consecutive days. Staffing levels at three of the four privately
operated facilities hovered above 10 percent for much of last year, state
records show. As for the fourth facility, the vacancy rate was above the 10
percent trigger in six of the 13 months the state records covered.
Corrections Secretary Joe Williams, who worked for GEO before Gov. Bill
Richardson tapped him as corrections secretary, told The Independent last
week the state had never penalized GEO or CCA despite vacancy rates
repeatedly topping the 10 percent trigger. He had the discretion to decide
whether to penalize the firms or not, and he had decided against it, Williams
said. The firms were doing a good job of managing the prisons, he added. Some
state lawmakers are wondering why Williams never assessed the penalties. Some
believe the never-assessed penalties could amount to millions of dollars.
State records show that vacancies at GEO-operated Guadalupe County
Correctional Facility in Santa Rosa were above the 10 percent threshold in 11
of the13 months between July 2009 to July 2010; 10 of the 13 months at the
GEO-run Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs; and nine of the 13 months
at the CCA-operated New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants. The
vacancy rate at the GEO-run Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility
eclipsed the 10 percent rate in six of the 13 months covered by the time
period shown in the records, state records show. The agency on Friday
reiterated Williams’ discretion in deciding whether to penalize the companies
or not. “The contract clauses that deal with vacancy rates gives sole
discretion to NMCD so that they may penalize the private prisons,” read an
e-mail to The Independent after we had sent questions related to the vacancy
rates from July 2009 to July 2010. “The penalties are not mandatory and are
decided by the department,” the e-mail continued. “Secretary Williams will be
presenting the reasons to why he has not penalized the vendors to the
Legislative Finance Committee in an upcoming hearing. The department welcomes
you to attend the committee hearing.”

June 29, 2005 The Santa Fe New Mexican
ALBUQUERQUE -- Lawyers for three prison inmates facing the death penalty in
the 1999 slaying of a New Mexico correctional officer say the state hasn't
provided adequate money for the defense. The state's chief public
defender said this week that the state already is spending close to $2
million on defending the inmates, which he said is more than any other
criminal case in state history. However, six private lawyers retained
by the state to represent Reis Lopez, David Sanchez and Robert Young have
asked a judge to let them drop out of the case. If the judge won't
agree, they want the state to pay more money for the defense or drop the
death-penalty request. The charges stem from the beating and killing of
Officer Ralph Garcia during a 1999 inmate uprising at the Guadalupe County
Correctional Facility near Santa Rosa.The state Supreme Court ruled last year
that New Mexico could seek the death penalty against the three inmates.
Defense lawyers had argued the death penalty shouldn't apply because the
officer worked for private-prison operator Wackenhut Corrections Corp. However,
the court ruled that Garcia had the status of a "peace officer"
under a law that allows the death penalty for killing lawmen.

June 29, 2005 The Santa Fe New Mexican
ALBUQUERQUE -- Lawyers for three prison inmates facing the death penalty in
the 1999 slaying of a New Mexico correctional officer say the state hasn't
provided adequate money for the defense. The state's chief public
defender said this week that the state already is spending close to $2
million on defending the inmates, which he said is more than any other
criminal case in state history. However, six private lawyers retained
by the state to represent Reis Lopez, David Sanchez and Robert Young have
asked a judge to let them drop out of the case. If the judge won't
agree, they want the state to pay more money for the defense or drop the
death-penalty request. The charges stem from the beating and killing of
Officer Ralph Garcia during a 1999 inmate uprising at the Guadalupe County
Correctional Facility near Santa Rosa.The state Supreme Court ruled last year
that New Mexico could seek the death penalty against the three inmates.
Defense lawyers had argued the death penalty shouldn't apply because the
officer worked for private-prison operator Wackenhut Corrections Corp.
However, the court ruled that Garcia had the status of a "peace
officer" under a law that allows the death penalty for killing lawmen.

May 3, 2005 AP
Prison guards are blaming a lack of funding for an attack that injured four
correctional officers in the privately run Guadalupe County Correctional
Facility near Santa Rosa. "What happened in Santa Rosa will happen in
Santa Fe," said Sgt. Lee Ortega, a correctional officer at the
Penitentiary of New Mexico near Santa Fe, who was among about two dozen
correctional officers picketing the state Capitol on Monday. Ortega,
president of the northern sublocal chapter of the correctional officers
union, said Corrections Secretary Joe Williams formerly worked for private
prisons - an industry Ortega contends just wants to save money. Williams formerly
worked for Wackenhut Corp., a private prison operator, which named him warden
of the year in 2001. "The reason they would make someone warden of the
year is if that warden saved money," he said. "That's what he's
trying to do with the state prison. He's trying to save money, but he's
making the prisons unsafe." Williams, who started his corrections career
as a guard at the state penitentiary in the early 1980s, worked for Wackenhut
between 1999 and 2003 as warden of the private prison at Hobbs. Four guards
were injured Sunday, and one had to be hospitalized, after an inmate attacked
them with a padlock inside a sock at the Santa Rosa prison. Bland said
officers used tear gas to quell about 120 other inmates who got "rowdy
and riled up."

The state Supreme
Court has ruled prosecutors can seek the death penalty for the killing of a
guard in a privately operated prison. The state Supreme Court issued
the ruling in the case of three inmates accused of killing Guadalupe County
Correctional Facility guard Ralph Garcia during a 1999 uprising. (AP,
April 22, 2004)

August 21, 2003
Angela Vigil was stunned when officials at the Guadalupe County Correctional
Facility told her she tested positive for heroin traces on her hand at a
recent visit to her son here. "I've only even seen heroin
once," said Vigil, a special education teacher at Highland High in
Albuquerque who said she was humiliated by prison officials who denied her
the time with her son. Vigil wasn't alone; many visitors to the prison
here have tested positive for drug traces and been denied an inmate visit
since a detection machine was installed in May, Warden Mo Bravo said.
Officials say the machine— a recommendation of a panel that looked at how
Wackenhut Corrections Corp. handled a deadly 1999 riot here— hasn't been
without problems. But they say they've fixed it. "There was a very
big issue," Bravo said. During the first month the machine was at
the prison, about 20 of 50 visitors tested positive and were denied visits,
Bravo said. The machine swipes a visitor's hand for trace amounts of drugs,
measured in parts per million. Casual contact with drug users can leave
drug traces on a nonuser's body, said Ed Brown, director of Wackenhut's
Western Region Office. So many positive tests prompted officials at the
prison in July to lower the allowable threshold for granting a visit, Bravo
said. With the new thresholds, which vary by drug type, roughly one to
two visitors a day may be denied, Bravo said. He also said that with the machine
in place, fewer inmates test positive for drug use while incarcerated.
Vigil, angered by her experience at the prison, had planned to describe her
situation to lawmakers at a meeting of the Corrections Oversight and Justice
Committee as it met Wednesday evening. While Vigil— who denies she had
contact with heroin— said she was treated rudely, Bravo said he couldn't
comment on her case. The machine, worth about $60,000, was one of several
improvements the company made after an independent inquiry into the riot and
its aftermath, which left officer Ralph Garcia dead and sent some inmates to
a supermaximum facility in Wallens Ridge, Va. Wackenhut president Wayne
Calabrese told lawmakers the company has spent more than $3 million in Santa
Rosa and Hobbs, where it operates the Lea County Correctional Facility.
The improvements include better security camera systems, enhanced fences and
ceilings as well as programs to keep inmates busy and teach them
skills. The company also sought— and won— from the state Legislature
this year a wage increase for its corrections officers. Entry-level officers
now make $9.64 an hour instead of $9, Calabrese said. (ABQ Journal)

June 8, 2002The former assistant warden at a privately run prison here has
pleaded guilty to two felony charges in connection with the abuse of some
inmates. Raymond O'Rourke appeared before U.S. District Judge M. Christina
Armijo on Thursday. He was sentenced to 21 months in prison after pleading
guilty to a count of deprivation of rights under color of law and obstruction
of justice by witness tampering. O'Rourke was accused of ordering two
lieutenants to assault former inmates Tommy McManaway and David Gonzales in
August 1998 at the Lincoln County Correctional Facility. He then orchestrated
a cover-up of the incidents, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The two
guards, Judson McPeters and Thomas Doyle, have pleaded guilty to similar
charges. They have not been sentenced. The prison is operated by
Florida-based Wackenhut. (The Associated Press)

October
2000
An advisory letter from the state attorney general's office finds the state
Corrections Department exceeded its authority by contracting with Wackenhut
to give a retroactive per diem pay adjustment. (Santa Fe New Mexican, Oct.7,
2000)

September 1, 1999
There was a riot involving 290 inmates. A correctional officer was stabbed
"numerous" times by up to 9 different inmates. The riot was in
response to efforts to lock down the institution following the stabbing of an
inmate.

August 12, 1999
An inmate was murdered with a laundry bag filled with rocks as he watched
television.

Juvenile Justice
Rehabilitation Center
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Southwest Key Inc.
June 7, 2003The state will not leave the
Juvenile Justice Rehabilitation Center under private management, despite
pleas of local youth advocates, a high-ranking official said. The
Children, Youth and Families Department last month announced that it would
resume public management of the 48-bed juvenile jail when the contract of
Florida-based Associated Marine Institutes expires June 30. That
decision upset several area state legislators and youth advocates, who argue
that CYFD hasn't shown it can do a better job
providing rehabilitative and educational services to incarcerated youth than
AMI. (ABQ Journal)

December 18, 2002The Children, Youth and Families Department on Tuesday

ended
its contract with Southwest Key Programs Inc. to manage the troubled state
juvenile rehabilitation center west of the city.Starting on Monday, management of the
48-bed facility will be turned over to a new private contractor,
Florida-based Associated Marine Institute, or AMI, which currently operates
another state juvenile detention center, Camp Sierra Blanca, near
Lincoln.CYFD spokesman Romaine Serna
said the groundwork for the decision to end Southwest Key's contract with the
state was laid by a series of complaints raised by southern New Mexico
legislators over the past year.Those
concerns — including a lack of vocational training and recreational programs,
a high rate of

inmates prescribed psychotropic drugs, gang
activity in the facility, staff misconduct and a high rate of staff turnover
— were investigated by the Legislative Finance Committee and resulted in a
corrective action play

for Southwest Key in September.Then late on Dec. 4, two teens, who were not bedded down for the night, attacked and beat
a 25-year-old guard at the facility. The guard suffered skull fractures and
other injuries, and the pair of teens smashed windows in a failed escape
attempt."It (the incident)
brought the whole operation into question, and at that point we decided it
was in everyone's best interest to end that contractual relationship,"
Serna said. (ABQ Journal)

December
14, 2002The contract with a private company that operates the Juvenile
Justice Rehabilitation Center for the state here could soon be terminated, a
state senator said.The 48-bed jail is
operated by Southwest Key Program Inc., a

Texas-based nonprofit
company, under a $2.4 million annual contract with the New Mexico Children,
Youth and Families Department."It's my understanding that the state is in the process of
terminating the contract," state Sen. Leonard Lee Rawson, R-Las Cruces,
said Thursday.Rawson said the state
is considering terminating the contract as a result of an investigation and
the failure

of Southwest Key to meet deadlines that had been set
by state officials. (ABQ Journal)

December 13, 2002
A private contractor that operates the Juvenile Justice Rehabilitation Center
for the state has laid off 13 employees. The
action follows last week's destructive rampage by two inmates who were
accused of beating a caregiver and smashing windows in an attempt to
escape. The 48-bed jail is operated by Southwest Key Program Inc., a
Texas-based nonprofit company, under a $2.4 million annual contract with the
New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department. State officials and
lawmakers held hearings earlier this year in response to complaints about
conditions at the facility ranging from inmate and staff assaults to drug
abuse. (ABQ Journal)

September
26, 2002
Legislators greeted with skepticism a report on problems at the state's
juvenile rehabilitation facility in Las Cruces. Deborah Hartz, secretary of
the Children, Youth and Families Department, told lawmakers that the agency's
investigation found that many of the complaints concerning the juvenile
lockup had been exaggerated, were already corrected or were in the process of
being fixed. "Most of the allegations were found not to be true," Hartz
said. "Is the facility perfect? No." Lawmakers asked for an
investigation after receiving a litany of complaints ranging from drug
trafficking to staff members being involved in gang activity. The center is
managed by a Texas firm under a contract to CYFD. "I'm still concerned
that it was strictly an inhouse investigation," Sen. Mary Kay Papen,
D-Las Cruces, said after Hartz made her report. "At $139-a-day per
resident, I'm concerned that they're not getting what they need and society
is not getting what it needs," Papen said. Parts of the facility are
still under construction. Exercise areas, for example, are limited. Sen.
Leonard Lee Rawson, R-Las Cruces, said, "I think we need to note the
difference between the allegations and the findings. Sometimes, the truth is
in between them." Rawson said he thought progress was being made and
hoped it would continue. Hartz attributed complaints to "general
start up problems" at the year-old lockup. The investigation found that
illegal drug use was not rampant, according to Hartz, and, in the two
confirmed cases, the drugs were traced back to inmate families and not staff
members. The report also found that problems with safety and education issues
were being addressed. Hartz said the investigation was conducted by top officials
at the agency and went beyond what the committee requested. Hartz
acknowledged that one resident was improperly restrained earlier this year.
"The staff members involved were fired and the case was referred to the
State Police," Hartz said. A more recent allegation of sexual contact
between a staff member and juvenile resident is under investigation. Hartz
said the incident was properly handled by center officials. The
rehabilitation center, which houses 48 juvenile offenders, is managed by
Southwest Key Inc., a Texas nonprofit organization, under a $2.4 million
contract. (ABQ journal)

September
26, 2002
Legislators greeted with skepticism a report on problems at the state's
juvenile rehabilitation facility in Las Cruces. Deborah Hartz, secretary of the
Children, Youth and Families Department, told lawmakers that the agency's
investigation found that many of the complaints concerning the juvenile
lockup had been exaggerated, were already corrected or were in the process of
being fixed. "Most of the allegations were found not to be true,"
Hartz said. "Is the facility perfect? No." Lawmakers asked for an
investigation after receiving a litany of complaints ranging from drug
trafficking to staff members being involved in gang activity. The center is
managed by a Texas firm under a contract to CYFD. "I'm still concerned
that it was strictly an inhouse investigation," Sen. Mary Kay Papen,
D-Las Cruces, said after Hartz made her report. "At $139-a-day per
resident, I'm concerned that they're not getting what they need and society
is not getting what it needs," Papen said. Parts of the facility are
still under construction. Exercise areas, for example, are limited. Sen.
Leonard Lee Rawson, R-Las Cruces, said, "I think we need to note the
difference between the allegations and the findings. Sometimes, the truth is
in between them." Rawson said he thought progress was being made and
hoped it would continue. Hartz attributed complaints to "general
start up problems" at the year-old lockup. The investigation found that
illegal drug use was not rampant, according to Hartz, and, in the two
confirmed cases, the drugs were traced back to inmate families and not staff
members. The report also found that problems with safety and education issues
were being addressed. Hartz said the investigation was conducted by top
officials at the agency and went beyond what the committee requested. Hartz
acknowledged that one resident was improperly restrained earlier this year.
"The staff members involved were fired and the case was referred to the
State Police," Hartz said. A more recent allegation of sexual contact
between a staff member and juvenile resident is under investigation. Hartz
said the incident was properly handled by center officials. The
rehabilitation center, which houses 48 juvenile offenders, is managed by
Southwest Key Inc., a Texas nonprofit organization, under a $2.4 million
contract. (ABQ journal)

June 13, 2012 The New Mexican
The state Corrections Department could save millions by spending more on
community corrections programs and tweaking some private prison contracts,
the Legislative Finance Committee says. A recent evaluation of the
department, by the committee and the Pew Center on the States, uncovered
problems with contract management, parole planning and programs aimed at
keeping prisoners from returning. A recent committee newsletter said,
"The department could save $2 million a year by amending its contract
with the private company that runs the Hobbs prison, the review says. Even
though staffing level requirements were cut in March, the state is paying the
operator the same amount." The Hobbs prison is operated by the
Florida-based Geo Group, which also runs other prisons in Santa Rosa and
Clayton.

March 17, 2012 Albuquerque
Journal
The companies that operate private prisons where New Mexico state inmates
serve their time have racked up nearly $1.6 million in penalties for
understaffing and other contract violations since the Martinez administration
started cracking down last year. Nearly all of that was attributable to
problems at The GEO Group Inc.’s prison in Hobbs, although the company’s
Clayton prison was recently added to the penalty list. The Corrections
Corporation of America, which operates the women’s prison in Grants, also has
been fined during the past couple of months, mostly for having inmates in the
prison after their release dates. Reversing the practice of the previous
administration, Republican Gov. Susana Martinez decided to pursue the
penalties the state is entitled to impose for contract violations. “In
today’s struggling economy, the people of New Mexico deserve to know the
Corrections Department is running in a fiscally responsible manner,”
Corrections Secretary Gregg Marcantel said this week in a statement. The
department recently revived its Office of Inspector General to keep tabs on
contract compliance. Such fines are discretionary, and former Democratic Gov.
Bill Richardson’s administration gave private prisons a pass, irking
lawmakers who estimated that upwards of $18 million could have been
collected. Richardson’s corrections chief, Joe Williams – who claimed that
estimate was inflated – said that prisons already were paying substantial
overtime costs, that understaffing was largely due to factors beyond their
control, and that the facilities were safe and secure. Williams worked at
Hobbs for GEO’s predecessor company before Richardson hired him, and he
returned to GEO’s corporate offices in Boca Raton, Fla., at the end of
Richardson’s tenure. After negotiations with the Martinez administration, GEO
in January paid a $1.1 million fine for violations at the Lea County
Correctional Facility in Hobbs for the period from January through October of
2011. GEO also agreed to put another $200,000 into recruitment over the
subsequent year. GEO continued to be penalized: $158,529 for November,
$139,621 for December, $78,710 for January and $84,753 for February,
according to documents provided by the department. The February assessment
isn’t final yet, because the company has until late this month to respond to
it. The fines largely were due to vacancies in the ranks of correctional
officers and in noncustodial positions such as teachers, counselors and
treatment providers. Corrections officials have said it’s difficult for the
men’s medium security lockup at Hobbs to recruit and keep corrections
officers because it’s competing with the oil industry. An assessment of
$2,570 for understaffing in January was proposed for GEO’s Northeastern New
Mexico Detention Facility in Clayton, but the problem had been corrected by
the time the department sent a letter to the prison on Feb. 10, and no
penalty was assessed. In early March, however, the department notified the
Clayton prison that it would be fined $5,373 for February, for vacancies in
mandatory posts and for two inmates imprisoned beyond their release date.
That penalty is pending. GEO did not respond to requests from the Journal for
comment. The Corrections Corporation of America, which operates the New
Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants, was fined $11,779 for
January, and $9,974 for February – still pending – for an academic instructor
vacancy and for inmates held beyond their release dates. Inspector General
Shannon McReynolds said that occurs when the required parole plans aren’t
developed in a timely way.

November 14, 2011 Santa Fe New
Mexican
A Florida company will pay New Mexico $1.1 million in penalties for not
adequately staffing a private prison it operates in Hobbs, a state official
said. GEO Group, which manages three of New Mexico's four private prisons,
agreed to pay the settlement last week following a meeting between the
corrections agency and the company's top management, Corrections Secretary
Gregg Marcantel said Monday. "They've agreed on it," Marcantel said
of GEO. "It's a very fair way of doing it. They are not completely
happy. It needed to be done." Officials at GEO could not be reached for
comment Monday night. GEO will pay the $1.1 million over several months, the
corrections secretary said. In addition, GEO has agreed to spend $200,000
over the next calendar year to recruit new correctional officers for the
Hobbs facility. By contract, New Mexico can penalize The GEO Group and
Corrections Corp. of America, the two firms that operate the private
facilities, when staffing vacancies are at 10 percent or more for 30
consecutive days. The settlement represents the first time in years —
possibly ever — that New Mexico has penalized the out-of-state, for-profit
companies for not adequately staffing the facilities they operate. The issue
has come up in the past, but state officials said New Mexico had never levied
penalties for understaffing issues. The question surfaced in 2010 when state
lawmakers were struggling to find ways to close a yawning state budget gap. At
the time, the Legislature's budget arm, the Legislative Finance Committee,
estimated Gov. Bill Richardson's administration had skipped $18 million in
penalties by not assessing penalties against the two firms for inadequate
prison staffing levels. The $1.1 million covers understaffing by GEO at the
Hobbs facility for only this year and was reached after the state corrections
agency and GEO spent most of the summer disputing each other's methodology
for computing how much GEO should be penalized, state documents show.
Marcantel said he could not retroactively penalize the companies for previous
years, but could only go back to the first day of Gov. Susana Martinez's
tenure, Jan. 1. According to state records, of the four privately operated
prisons, Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs has struggled
the most to keep correctional officers on the job. The facility's vacancy
rate hovered above 20 percent for 12 of the 14 months for which there was
data — between January 2010 and March of this year. That includes seven
consecutive months — September 2010 through March 2011 — when the vacancy
rate was 25.24 percent, records showed. Going forward, the state will check
monthly to ensure the four privately operated prisons are adequately staffed,
Marcantel said. "Our new approach, it's not going to be waiting,"
Marcantel said. "That doesn't motivate" the companies to keep
staffing levels where they need to be, he added. GEO, headquartered in Boca
Raton, Fla., recently reported $1.2 billion in earnings and $58.8 million in
profit through the first nine months of this year, according to a Nov. 2
release by the company.

October 24, 2011 Odessa
American
A 52-year-old New Mexico man died Saturday morning following a fight with
another inmate in a prison in Lea County, N.M. A New Mexico Department of
Public Safety news release stated that at about noon Friday, Lea County
Correctional Facility inmate Chris Phillips was airlifted to University of
New Mexico Hospital from the Hobbs, N.M., prison following an altercation with
another inmate. Phillips was pronounced deceased at 3:14 a.m. Saturday. The
circumstances surrounding the death of Chris Phillips were under
investigation by Lea County Correctional Facility Officials with the Hobbs
Police Department serving as the lead criminal investigating agency. In
accordance with departmental policy and standard operational procedure, the
New Mexico Department of Corrections has also initiated a Critical Incident
Review of the matter.

April 25, 2011 The New Mexican
The two for-profit firms that run four of New Mexico's 10 prisons often
struggle to keep correctional officer jobs filled, state records show. One in
five such jobs at a Hobbs facility was vacant for much of the past 15 months,
while the prison in Santa Rosa reported a vacancy rate of around 12.5 percent
over the same period, according to the records. By contract, New Mexico can
penalize The GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America, the two firms
that operate the facilities, when staffing vacancies are at 10 percent or
more for 30 consecutive days. It's a threshold that appears to have been
crossed multiple times at all four prisons since January 2010. The vacancy
rate at Hobbs topped the 10-percent threshold in each of the 14 months for
which data was available between January 2010 and March of this year.
Meanwhile, the 10-percent threshold was topped nine times over that period at
Santa Rosa and six times at a Clayton facility. Like the Hobbs facility, both
are run by GEO. A CCA-operated prison in Grants topped the 10 percent rate
four times over the same period. Whether to penalize the out-of-state,
for-profit firms is an issue that has come up before. The question surfaced
last year when state lawmakers were struggling to find ways to close a
yawning state budget gap. At the time, the Legislature's budget arm, the
Legislative Finance Committee, estimated Gov. Bill Richardson's
administration had skipped $18 million in penalties against the two firms.
One powerful lawmaker said Monday the issue is still important and the
Legislature shouldn't lose sight of it. "We'd like to follow up and
perhaps do a performance group review on the private
prison operators to see whether they are making excessive profits," Rep.
Luciano "Lucky" Varela, D-Santa Fe, said of the Legislative Finance
Committee. Varela, the committee chairman, said he can accept a reasonable
return for the prison operators, but high vacancy rates at prisons operated
by the firms raise questions about how state dollars are being spent to
operate the facilities. Determining whether the companies should be penalized
for high vacancy rates is an involved process, a Corrections Department
spokesman said. GEO and CCA might have asked corrections officers already on
the job to work overtime to address the staffing situation. If they did, the
department "cannot in good faith consider that position to be
vacant," spokesman Shannon McReynolds wrote in an email. But the state
doesn't know whether that happened. That would require going through shift
rosters at each privately operated facility, McReynolds said in a follow-up
phone interview. "That will take a decision from the
administration," McReynolds said, referring to new Corrections Secretary
Lupe Martinez. "We do not have specifics on overtime. Every once in
awhile we'll hear a particular facility has spent a lot on overtime."
Because of sporadic record-keeping at the facilities GEO and CCA operate, the
state corrections agency couldn't verify last year how often the two firms
violated the vacancy-rate provision in their contracts, if at all. As a
result, the agency couldn't corroborate or refute the Legislative Finance
Committee's estimate of uncollected penalties. Joe Williams, then-corrections
secretary, decided not to pursue penalizing the two companies, saying GEO and
CCA were making a good-faith effort to keep the facilities staffed. The
contracts give the corrections secretary discretion to waive the penalties.
If Lupe Martinez, the new corrections secretary, decides to collect
penalties, it would be only for January 2011 and onward, McReynolds said.
Gov. Susana Martinez took power in January and soon afterward appointed Lupe
Martinez, no relation, as her corrections secretary. According to state
records, of the four privately operated prisons, Lea County Correctional
Facility in Hobbs has struggled the most to keep
correctional officers on the job. The facility's vacancy rate hovered above
20 percent for 12 of the 14 months for which there was data between January
2010 and March of this year. That includes seven consecutive months —
September 2010 through March — when the vacancy rate was 25.24 percent,
records show. GEO-run Guadalupe County Correctional Facility in Santa Rosa
reported a 16.93 percent vacancy rate last July, a high point. The vacancy
rate has hovered below 10 percent in five of the last seven months. Another
GEO-run facility, the Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility in Clayton,
showed a similar trend, reporting vacancy rates higher than 10 percent for
six of the seven months for which data was available between January and
August 2010. Data for July 2010 was missing. As in Santa Rosa, the Clayton
facility's vacancy rate has dropped in recent months. The state's fourth
privately operated prison, CCA-run New Mexico Women's Correctional Facility in
Grants, reported a vacancy rate above 10 percent four times from January 2010
to July 2010, with a 16.47 percent vacancy rate reported in July. The state
corrections agency did not have data for August 2010 to March 2011.

February 23, 2011 Odessa
American
Three men were arrested Wednesday in connection to the Jan. 3 beating death
of 31-year-old Lea County Correctional Facility inmate Paul Lasner. Martin
Knief, 30; Lorenzo Mora, 30; and Christopher Morrisette, 31, were charged
with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, tampering
with evidence and intimidation of a witness, a news release stated. Bond was
set at $1 million for each defendant, the release stated. The investigation
is ongoing, the release stated. Lasner was sentenced to life in prison for
first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated battery in 1998 after a
drive-by shooting with a shotgun in Clovis, N.M., left one dead and two
injured in 1997.

January 4, 2011 Clovis News
Journal
A 30-year-old Clovis man serving a life sentence in prison for a 1997 murder
was killed Monday at a Hobbs facility. Paul Lasner was transported from the
Lea County Correctional Facility to Lea Regional Hospital, where police said
he was pronounced dead. Hobbs police and medical personnel were called to the
facility for a report of a battery around 1:30 p.m. Monday, according to Mike
Stone with the Hobbs Police Department. Medical responders attempted to
resuscitate Lasner at the prison and continued efforts during transport to
the hospital, Stone said. Lasner was the only person with reported injuries
in the incident, he said. The death is being investigated as a homicide,
police said. Stone said as of Tuesday afternoon there had been no arrests in
connection with the case and would not say if police have any suspects. He
also would not disclose the nature of Lasner’s injuries. Stone said while
Lasner’s death is the first in at least a year, there have been other
homicides at the facility in recent years.

January 3, 2011 AP
There's been a death at private prison in Hobbs and police say they're
investigating the case as a homicide. Police officers responded to the Lea
County Correctional Facility about 1:30 p.m. Monday in reference to an
assault. They say the victim was transported to Lea Regional Hospital, where
he was pronounced dead. There's no immediate word on whether the victim is an
inmate or a prison guard.

September 10, 2010 New Mexico
Independent
The state appears to have been within its rights last year to repeatedly
penalize two private prison operators for letting their vacancy rates hover
above a 10 percent trigger in their contracts, state records show. By
contract New Mexico can levy penalties against the two firms – GEO Group and
Corrections Corp. of America (CCA) — when staffing vacancies at the
facilities they manage in Hobbs, Grants, Clayton and Santa Rosa stay at 10
percent or more for 30-consecutive days. Staffing levels at three of the four
privately operated facilities hovered above 10 percent for much of last year,
state records show. As for the fourth facility, the vacancy rate was above
the 10 percent trigger in six of the 13 months the state records covered.
Corrections Secretary Joe Williams, who worked for GEO before Gov. Bill
Richardson tapped him as corrections secretary, told The Independent last
week the state had never penalized GEO or CCA despite vacancy rates
repeatedly topping the 10 percent trigger. He had the discretion to decide
whether to penalize the firms or not, and he had decided against it, Williams
said. The firms were doing a good job of managing the prisons, he added. Some
state lawmakers are wondering why Williams never assessed the penalties. Some
believe the never-assessed penalties could amount to millions of dollars.
State records show that vacancies at GEO-operated Guadalupe County
Correctional Facility in Santa Rosa were above the 10 percent threshold in 11
of the13 months between July 2009 to July 2010; 10 of the 13 months at the
GEO-run Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs; and nine of the 13 months
at the CCA-operated New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants. The
vacancy rate at the GEO-run Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility
eclipsed the 10 percent rate in six of the 13 months covered by the time
period shown in the records, state records show. The agency on Friday
reiterated Williams’ discretion in deciding whether to penalize the companies
or not. “The contract clauses that deal with vacancy rates gives sole
discretion to NMCD so that they may penalize the private prisons,” read an
e-mail to The Independent after we had sent questions related to the vacancy
rates from July 2009 to July 2010. “The penalties are not mandatory and are
decided by the department,” the e-mail continued. “Secretary Williams will be
presenting the reasons to why he has not penalized the vendors to the
Legislative Finance Committee in an upcoming hearing. The department welcomes
you to attend the committee hearing.”

September 7, 2010 New Mexico
Independent
Think Progress, the blog of the left-leaning Center for American Progress
Action Fund, has picked up on NMI’s story about New Mexico Corrections
Secretary Joe Williams not penalizing two private prison operators despite
repeated contract obligations. But Think Progress added a bit of information
we forgot to mention: that Williams worked for GEO, one of the two firms that
wasn’t penalized, prior to becoming the state’s corrections secretary.
Williams has not been secret about the affiliation. He talks freely on the
corrections department’s website about the years he spent with GEO as warden
of the Lea County Correctional Facility, which the firm operates, before Gov.
Bill Richardson tapped him as corrections secretary. Here’s an excerpt from
Williams biography on the agency’s website. In 1999, four years before
becoming secretary of corrections, Joe accepted one of the more difficult
challenges of his career. The Geo Group, Inc. (formerly known as Wackenhut)
hired Joe as the warden for the Lea County Correctional Facility, and charged
him with turning around the troubled prison in Hobbs, New Mexico. The
facility eventually became a flagship prison. Agreeing to serve as its warden
proved to be the right move, both professionally and personally. In fact, Joe
liked the city of Hobbs so much, he named his beloved
basset hound Sir Hobbs. The question now is whether Williams’ affiliation
will be an issue among state lawmakers who are wondering why the corrections
secretary decided against penalizing the two private prison operators — GEO
and Corrections Corp. of America — possibly costing the state millions of
dollars.

September 26, 2007 Santa Fe
Reporter
Over the last year, whistle-blowers have come forward, auditors have released
findings, legislative committees have convened. All concluded that Wexford
Health Sources Inc., the private company that secured an exclusive contract
in 2004 to provide health care to New Mexico inmates, cut corners at the cost
of prisoners’ well being. Last year, SFR published an award-winning 15-part
series focusing on health care professionals’ allegations about the care in
the prisons [www.sfreporter.com; “The Wexford files.” ]
Although Wexford’s contract expired on June 30, 2007, inmates are now filing
handwritten civil suits leveled at Wexford, the State of New Mexico and its
private-prison contractor, the GEO Group. Richard Vespender, an inmate in GEO
Group’s Lea County Correctional Facility, filed suit in the First Judicial
District on July 3, 2007, alleging that Wexford denied him treatment for a
back injury he suffered in 2001 when he slipped on a wet floor at another
prison facility. Vespender, who is representing himself, says doctors had
identified two herniated discs in his lower back that required surgery, but
Wexford would only pay for temporary pain-killers. On Aug, 15, former Western
New Mexico Correctional Facility inmate Johnny Gallegos filed suit claiming
that, in the summer of 2005, Wexford employees ignored his serious urinary
condition. The suit alleges that Gallegos was treated for constipation,
despite regular bowel movements and, after more than a week of complaints,
was finally taken to the hospital after the prison’s warden discovered him
waiting in line at the medical clinic with his shorts covered in blood. While
the plaintiffs have yet to respond to Gallegos’ complaint, GEO Group and the
New Mexico Department of Corrections have denied culpability in Vespender’s
case, and claim, in their legal response, that they are “without sufficient
knowledge or information” to either admit or deny 32 of Vespender’s allegations.
Most conspicuously, the plaintiffs claim they don’t know enough about
Vespender’s 2006 visits to Dr. Don Apodaca, who at the time was Wexford’s
medical director at the Lea County prison. Apodaca resigned in November 2006
and previously told SFR: “It came to the point where I felt uncomfortable
with the medical and legal position I was in. There were individuals who
needed health care who weren’t getting it.” Although NMDOC and GEO now deny
sufficient knowledge of both Apodaca’s diagnosis and that of the specialists
at an Albuquerque health clinic, both were cited in an April 4, 2007 memo
from NMDOC denying Vespender’s final administrative appeal, which was
included in Vespender’s case file. Tia Bland, spokesperson for NMDOC, says
this is a moot point: As of July 1, St. Louis, Mo.-based Correctional Medical
Services began handling prison health care. “If there are inmates who felt
that they were not receiving proper treatment when Wexford was there, there
is a process for them to let us know about that, for them to let the current
vendor know about that and we certainly will address whatever their concern
is now,” she says. Solomon Brown, Gallegos’ attorney, says he’s interviewed
dozens of upset New Mexico inmates, and a new vendor may not be enough. “In
my estimations, there’s nothing but dissatisfaction among the inmates,” Brown
says. “The governor needs to appoint a group to formally look at it, or an
ombudsman to go and talk to these inmates like I do and meet with them.”

September 13, 2007 AP
Some Lea County inmates set fires and broke toilets and windows after being
told they would be allowed only one sausage at dinner. Jail officials said
the inmates began yelling and banging on their doors in what they described
in a news release as a "temper tantrum." Officers from the Lea
County Sheriff's and Hobbs Police departments were called in to restore
control, and the jail was locked down after Tuesday night's incident. Some 33
prisoners were involved, Warden Jann Gartman said. The remaining 300-plus prisoners
at the jail accepted the meal without incident, authorities said. The damage
to the jail was light, with some smoke damage and broken toilets and windows,
the warden said.

February 7, 2007 The Santa Fe
Reporter
At the behest of the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC), two correctional
health experts have launched an extensive audit of the medical care in New
Mexico’s state prisons. SFR has learned that Dr. Steve Spencer and Dr. B Jaye
Anno were hired late last month by the LFC to evaluate the level of medicine
provided to state inmates. Their work is part of a larger audit the
Legislature is conducting of the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD),
slated for conclusion this spring. “We needed medical expertise in our audit,
because up until now we haven’t had any,” Manu Patel, the LFC’s deputy
director for audits, says. “This way, it’s not just us second-guessing the
Corrections Department. We can actually get a sense of what’s working and
what isn’t.” Patel says the contract with Spencer and Anno is worth
approximately $21,000. The health care component to the Corrections audit
follows a six-month investigation by SFR into Wexford Health Sources, the
private company that administers medical care to state inmates [Cover story,
Aug. 9, 2006: “Hard Cell?”]. The investigation led to a request for the audit
by the state Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee last
October [Outtakes, Oct. 25, 2006: “Medical Test”]. SFR’s series also
compelled Gov. Bill Richardson to terminate the state’s contract with Wexford
in December, a process that will likely take until June, when the prison
medical contract is up for renewal [Outtakes, Dec. 13, 2006: “Wexford Under
Fire”]. Regardless of Wexford’s fate, the LFC is pressing ahead with the
audit. “We are looking at this serving a long-term benefit to the Corrections
Department, so that we can all better evaluate the medical program in the
prisons and its services,” Patel says. Spencer, a former medical director of
NMCD, and Anno, who co-founded the National Commission on Correctional Health
Care, started work on Feb. 5, when they traveled to Lea County Correctional
Facility in Hobbs. “We’re going to look at a number of things when we travel
to the sights,” Spencer says. “We’ll look at the adequacy of staffing, the
appropriateness of care, the timeliness and use of off-site specialists.
We’ll review inmate deaths and whether Corrections is adequately monitoring
the contractor.” Moreover, the medical audit will involve a review of the
contract between Wexford and the Corrections Department, as well as sifting
through tuberculosis, HIV and other medical testing data. Various medical
personnel will also be interviewed throughout the process, Spencer says.
Inadequate tuberculosis testing, chronic staffing shortages and a systemic
failure to send inmates off-site have been among the concerns raised to SFR
by former and current Wexford employees [Outtakes, Oct. 18, 2006:
“Corrections Concerns”]. In an e-mail, Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman
said, in part, that Wexford plans to cooperate with the audit and is
confident its outcome will be positive. She also said Wexford is cooperating
with NMCD for a smooth transition. NMCD spokeswoman Tia Bland tells SFR that
Corrections is still working on a request for proposal, set to go out in March, that will kick off the agency’s search for a new
medical provider. “We’re providing [the auditors] with whatever they need,
and whatever the results are, we’ll use that information to our advantage in
working with the next vendor,” Bland says. Bland reiterates NMCD’s contention
that Wexford violated the terms of its contract with the state because of
staffing problems. She says Corrections is still analyzing whether Wexford
broke other contractual stipulations. During the mid-1990s, Spencer and Anno
were hired by the Wyoming Department of Corrections to conduct medical audits
of its prisons. Wexford, which administered health care for the Wyoming DOC,
eventually became embroiled in a US Justice Department investigation
regarding prison health care in that state and lost its contract. Recalls
Anno: “There were a number of problems with Wexford’s operation in Wyoming.”

November 28, 2006 Santa Fe
Reporter
In the latest setback for Wexford Health Sources, a former employee has
slapped the prison health care company with a civil lawsuit alleging racial
discrimination. The suit, filed Oct. 25 in US District Court in Albuquerque,
alleges that former health services administrator Don Douglas was fired by
Wexford last October because he is black. Moreover, the suit alleges that
sick and injured inmates at Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs, where
Douglas worked, received poor treatment and that the facility lacked critical
medical staff. Wexford, which administers health care in New Mexico’s
prisons, has been the subject of a four-month SFR investigation [Cover story,
Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. As a result, the Courts, Corrections and Justice
Committee held a hearing last month, and the Legislative Finance Committee is
slated to audit Wexford and the New Mexico Corrections Department [Outtakes,
Nov. 8: “Prison Audit Ahead”]. The allegations in Douglas’ lawsuit echo many
of the concerns from employees who have talked to SFR. Specifically, it
charges that even though Douglas alerted a Wexford corporate administrator
about medical and staffing problems, the company did not respond. Instead,
according to the lawsuit, Douglas’ job was audited and he was found
negligent, despite no prior problems and a record of exemplary job
evaluations. On Oct. 10, 2005, Douglas was fired and replaced by a white
woman, the lawsuit says. “Wexford did not provide critical health care in a
timely manner, and I called attention to that,” Douglas tells SFR. “Inmates
have a civil right as incarcerated American citizens to be afforded adequate
health care. But that service is not being provided, and Wexford is
neglecting inmates.” Douglas began working at Wexford in July 2004, but also
worked for its predecessor, Addus. Shortly after his firing, Douglas filed a
complaint with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). A June
5 letter from the EEOC’s Albuquerque office says the agency found reasonable
cause to believe Douglas “was terminated because of his race.” When queried
by SFR, Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman wrote in a Nov. 27 e-mail that
Wexford is withholding comment until the forthcoming audit is complete and
referred to 14 prior successful audits of Wexford. Corrections spokeswoman
Tia Bland also would not comment on the lawsuit and noted that NMCD does not
oversee Wexford personnel matters. Says Deshonda Charles Tackett, Douglas’
lawyer: “This is an important case. Mr. Douglas should not have to suffer
racial discrimination in an effort to provide inmates with proper health
care.”

November 22, 2006 Santa Fe
Reporter
The medical director of a state prison in Hobbs has stepped down from his
post less than a month after a legislative committee requested an audit of
the corrections health care in the state. Dr. Don Apodaca, medical director
of Lea County Correctional Facility (LCCF), turned in his resignation on Nov.
6 due to concerns that inmates there are not receiving sufficient access to
health care. According to Apodaca, sick inmates are routinely denied off-site
visits to medical specialists and sometimes have to wait months to receive
critical prescription drugs. Apodaca blames the policies of Wexford Health
Sources, the private company that contracts with the state to provide
medicine in New Mexico’s prisons, for these alleged problems. Wexford has
been the subject of a four-month SFR investigation, during which a growing
number of former and current employees have contended that Wexford is more
concerned with saving money than providing adequate health care, and that
inmates suffer as a result. On Oct. 24, the Legislative Finance Committee
(LFC) tentatively approved an audit that will assess Wexford’s contract with
the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) and also evaluate the quality of
health care rendered to inmates [Outtakes, Nov. 8: “Prison Audit Ahead”].
LCCF’s medical director since January 2006, Apodaca is one of the
highest-ranking ex-Wexford employees to come forward thus far. His
allegations of Wexford’s denials of off-site care and the delays in obtaining
prescription drugs echo those raised by other former and current employees
during the course of reporting for this series [Cover story, Aug. 9: “Hard
Cell?”]. Specifically, Apodaca says he personally evaluated inmates who
needed off-site, specialty care, but that Wexford consistently denied his
referrals. Apodaca cites the cases of an inmate who needed an MRI, another
inmate who suffered from a hernia and a third inmate who had a cartilage tear
in his knee as instances in which inmates were denied off-site care for
significant periods of time against his recommendations. When inmates are
actually cleared for off-site care in Albuquerque, they are transported in
full shackles without access to a bathroom for the six- to seven-hour trip,
Apodaca says. “Inmates told me they aren’t allowed to go to the bathroom and
ended up soiling themselves,” he says. “The trip is so bad they end up
refusing to go even when we get the off-site visits approved.” When it comes
to prescription drugs, there also are significant delays, Apodaca says. Inmates
sometimes wait weeks or even months for medicine used for heart and blood
pressure conditions, even though Apodaca says he would write orders for those
medicines repeatedly. “Wexford was not providing timely treatment and
diagnoses of inmates,” he says. “There were tragic cases where patients
slipped through the cracks, were not seen for inordinately long times and
suffered serious or fatal consequences.” Apodaca says he began documenting
the medical problems at the facility in March. After detailing in writing the
cases of 40 to 50 patients whom he felt had not received proper clinical
care, Apodaca says he alerted Dr. Phillip Breen, Wexford’s regional medical
director, and Cliff Phillips, Wexford’s regional health services
administrator, through memos, e-mails and phone calls. In addition, Apodaca
says he alerted Wexford’s corporate office in Pittsburgh. Neither Breen nor
Phillips returned phone messages left by SFR. Apodaca says he also informed
Devendra Singh, NMCD’s quality assurance manager for health services.
According to Apodaca, Singh assured him that he would require Wexford to look
into the matter, but Apodaca says he never heard a final response. “Wexford
was simply not receptive to any of the information I was sending them, and I
became exasperated,” he says. “It came to the point where I felt
uncomfortable with the medical and legal position I was in. There were
individuals who needed health care who weren’t getting it.” Singh referred
all questions to NMCD spokeswoman Tia Bland; Bland responded to SFR in a Nov.
20 e-mail: “If Don Apodaca has information involving
specific incidents, we will be happy to look into the situation. Otherwise,
we will wait for the LFC’s audit results, review them and take it from
there.” Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman would not comment specifically
on Apodaca’s allegations. In a Nov. 20 e-mail to SFR, she wrote that Wexford
will cooperate with the Legislature’s audit and is confident the outcome will
be similar to the 14 independent audits performed since May 2005 by national
correctional organizations. “Wexford is proud of the service we have provided
to the Corrections Department as documented in these independent audits and
looks forward to continuing to provide high quality health care services in
New Mexico,” Gedman writes. Members of the Legislature’s Courts, Corrections
and Justice Committee, which requested the forthcoming audit, toured LCCF on
Oct. 19 and were told by both Wexford and NMCD officials that there were no
health care problems at the facility. On the same tour, however, committee
members heard firsthand accounts from inmates who complained they couldn’t
get treatment when they became sick [Outtakes, Oct. 25: “Medical Test”]. That
visit, along with Apodaca’s accounts, calls into question Wexford’s and
NMCD’s accounts, State Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Bernalillo,
says. “We were told on our tour that nothing was wrong. And now to
hear that there is a claim that Wexford and the Corrections Department might
have known about this makes it seem like this information was knowingly
covered up,” McSorley, co-chairman of the committee, says. “We can’t trust
what’s being told to us. The situation may require independent oversight far
beyond what we have. This should be the biggest story in the state right
now.”

November 8, 2006 Santa Fe
Reporter
The New Mexico State Legislature is one step closer to an audit of Wexford
Health Sources, the private company that administers health care in New
Mexico’s prisons. On Oct. 24, the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) tentatively
approved the audit, which will evaluate Wexford’s contract with the New
Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) and also assess the quality of health
care administered to inmates. The request for a review of Wexford originated
with the state Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, which
voted unanimously on Oct. 20 to recommend the audit after a hearing on prison
health care in Hobbs [Outtakes, Oct. 25: “Medical Test”]. A subsequent Oct.
30 letter sent to the LFC by committee co-chairmen Rep. Joseph Cervantes,
D-Dońa Ana, and Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Bernalillo, refers to “serious
complaints raised by present and former employees” of Wexford. The letter
cites this newspaper’s reportage of the situation and notes that on a recent
tour of Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs, “committee members heard
numerous concerns from inmates about medical problems not being addressed.”
It also refers to confidential statements Wexford employees provided to the committee that were then turned over to the LFC. The
decision to examine Wexford and NMCD comes on the coattails of months of
reports that state inmates are suffering behind bars due to inadequate
medical services, documented in an ongoing, investigative series by SFR. Over
the past three months, former and current employees have alleged staffing
shortages as well as problems with the dispensation of prescription drugs and
the amount of time sick inmates are forced to wait before receiving urgent
care [Cover story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. The timing, Manu Patel, the LFC’s
deputy director for audits, says, is ideal, because the LFC already planned
to initiate a comprehensive audit of NMCD, the first in recent history.
Regarding the medical component of the audit, Patel says: “We will be looking
at how cost-effective Wexford has been. Also, we will be looking at the
quality of care, how long inmates have to wait to receive care and what
[Wexford’s] services are like.” Patel says the LFC plans to contract with
medical professionals to help evaluate inmates’ care. As per a request from
the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, current Wexford employees will
be given a chance to participate in the audit anonymously. The audit’s
specifics require final approval from the LFC in December; the committee will
likely take up to six months to generate a report, according to Patel. In a
Nov. 6 e-mail to SFR, Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman cites 14
successful, independent audits performed of Wexford in New Mexico since May
2005. “Wexford is proud of the service we have provided to the Corrections
Department as documented in these independent audits and looks forward to
continuing high quality health care services in New Mexico,” Gedman writes.
NMCD spokeswoman Tia Bland echoes Gedman: “We welcome the audit and plan on
cooperating any way we can,” she says. Meanwhile, former employees continue
to come forward. Kathryn Hamilton, an ex-NMCD mental health counselor, says
she worked alongside Wexford staff at the Pen for two months, shortly after
the company took the reins in New Mexico in July 2004. Hamilton alleges that
mentally ill inmates were cut off psychotropic medicine for cheaper, less
effective drugs and that inmates waited too long to have prescriptions
renewed and suffered severe behavioral withdrawals as a result. Hamilton, who
had worked at the Pen since April 2002, says she encountered the same sorts
of problems under Addus, Wexford’s predecessor, but quit shortly after
Wexford’s takeover because the situation wasn’t improving. “They would stop meds,
give inmates the wrong meds or refuse to purchase meds that were not on their
formulary, even if they were prescribed by a doctor,” Hamilton says. “I felt
angry, sometimes helpless, although I always tried to speak with
administrators to help the inmates.” Hamilton married a state inmate by proxy
last month, after continuing a correspondence with him following her tenure
at the Pen. Hamilton says she did not serve as a counselor to the inmate,
Anthony Hamilton, but met him after helping conduct a series of mental health
evaluations. Hamilton has been a licensed master social worker under her
maiden name since 2000 (according to the New Mexico Board of Social Work
Examiners). She emphasizes that her relationship with her husband did not
begin until after she left the Corrections Department. According to Hamilton,
her husband, still incarcerated at the Pen for aggravated assault, recently
contracted methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a serious
staph infection. In a previous story, four current Wexford employees
specifically mentioned MRSA as a concern to SFR because they allege Wexford
does not supply proper protective equipment for staff treating infectious
diseases like MRSA [Outtakes, Oct. 18: “Corrections Concerns”]. Wexford Vice
President Gedman did not address Hamilton’s claims when queried by SFR.
Corrections spokeswoman Bland also says she can’t comment on Hamilton’s
allegations because she had not spoken with Hamilton’s supervisor at the time
of her employment. Says Hamilton: “I initially called the newspaper as the
concerned wife of an inmate, not as a former therapist. With all the stories
the Reporter has done, I wanted to come forward with what I had seen at the
Pen.”

July 22, 2003
The state Supreme Court on Monday affirmed a prison inmate's first-degree
murder conviction for the death of a fellow prisoner at the Lea County
Correctional Facility. The high court rejected Paul Payne's arguments
on appeal that his constitutional rights were violated and there was not
enough evidence to support his convictions.
Payne was convicted in the June 17, 1999, death of Richard Garcia at the
private prison in Hobbs, operated by Wackenhut Corrections Corp. Garcia
was in an isolation cell when a guard opened the door to it, allowing Payne
and another inmate - who were working as porters outside their cells - to
enter. Garcia was stabbed more than 40 times. (AP)

May 4, 2003
A Lea County Detention Center inmate who stood guard outside a cell while another
inmate was killed was convicted of murder Thursday. A court translator
informed Juan Mendez that he was found guilty of murder and conspiracy to
commit murder. Mendez is one of six inmates charged in the Jan. 13,
1999, stabbing death of Robert Ortega. Authorities said Ortega was
stabbed more than 70 times.
July 22, 2003
The state Supreme Court on Monday affirmed a prison inmate's first-degree
murder conviction for the death of a fellow prisoner at the Lea County
Correctional Facility. The high court rejected Paul Payne's arguments
on appeal that his constitutional rights were violated and there was not
enough evidence to support his convictions.
Payne was convicted in the June 17, 1999, death of Richard Garcia at the
private prison in Hobbs, operated by Wackenhut Corrections Corp. Garcia
was in an isolation cell when a guard opened the door to it, allowing Payne
and another inmate - who were working as porters outside their cells - to
enter. Garcia was stabbed more than 40 times. (AP)

May 4, 2003
A Lea County Detention Center inmate who stood guard outside a cell while
another inmate was killed was convicted of murder Thursday. A court
translator informed Juan Mendez that he was found guilty of murder and
conspiracy to commit murder. Mendez is one of six inmates charged in
the Jan. 13, 1999, stabbing death of Robert Ortega. Authorities said
Ortega was stabbed more than 70 times.

November 18, 2002Richardson announced Thursday that Santa Fe lawyer Mark Donatelli and
Joe Williams, warden of the private prison in Hobbs, will co-chair
Richardson's Corrections Transition Team, charged with identifying strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and "major threats" to the department.
Williams was a former warden of the state medium-security prison in Los Lunas
until the late 1990s, when he was hired by the Florida-based Wackenhut Corp.,
which operates a 1,200-bed private prison in Hobbs. During his campaign,
Richardson frequently said he did not want to spend money to build new prison
cells, often adding variations of the sound bite, "I want to invest in
people, not prisons." Richardson never took a stand on whether the state
should continue using private companies to operate prisons - though he said
more than once that he had toured Wackenhut's Hobbs facility and was
favorably impressed. Donatelli said that one of the first things the state
needs to do is re-evaluate the effectiveness of private prisons.
"There's no credible evidence that private prisons save money," he
said. "The budget keeps going up." (Santa Fe New Mexican)

November
13, 2002
A Hobbs prison guard who helped beat up two handcuffed inmates on the orders
of an associate warden was sentenced Tuesday to four years probation.
While Senior U.S. District Judge John Edwards Conway did not sentence ex-lieutenant
Thomas Doyle McCoy to prison, as suggested by one of the inmates, he did take
up a suggestion that McCoy make a videotape to help dissuade other law
officers from using excessive force. McCoy pleaded guilty in March to
two counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice. He admitted that he and
fellow lieutenant Judson McPeters beat inmates Tommy McMannaway and David
Gonzales during separate incidents in 1998. Conway said McCoy had to be
as "stupid as they come." "I can't understand why when
an assistant warden asks you to beat up somebody, why you don't say,
"That's not my job," Conway told McCoy. McPeters pleaded
guilty in February to two counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice and is to
be sentenced today in Las Cruces. He has said he participated in the
beatings. The government recommended McPeters and McCoy get probation
because they cooperated with an FBI-based Wackenhut Corrections Corp.
McCoy and McPeters said they were ordered to beat up prisoners by
then-associate warden Raymond O'Rourke and told to cover up the
incident. O'Rourke pleaded guilty in June to one count of deprivation
of an inmate's civil rights and obstruction of justice. He was
sentenced to 21 months in prison and fined $25,000. Former prison guard
Gary Butler was sentenced Thursday to 37 months in prison and fined $7,500
for helping beat up inmate Eric Duran in 1998 and covering it up. Wackenhut, meanwhile has settled lawsuits brought by Duran
and McMannaway. Lawyer Mark Donatelli, who pushed for an investigation
of the prison and represented McMannaway and Duran, said the settlements are
confidential. (Journal Staff)

November 11, 2002Bernalillo County officials have launched talks with private
companies about the possibility of them operating the Downtown jail to house
federal or state inmates. Bernalillo County has built a new 2,100-bed
Metropolitan Detention Center on the West Mesa. The main Downtown jail will
be vacated after inmates are moved to the new lockup, probably later this
month and in December. During a city-county Government Commission meeting
Tuesday, jail employees union President Anthony Marquez spoke against turning
the Downtown jail over to a private company. "Let's not try to make a
buck off of it," he said. (Desertnews.com)

July 18, 2002An inmate accused of acting as a lookout while another prisoner was
killed has been charged with murder. Juan Mendez, a former inmate at the
private Lea County Correctional Facility, was arraigned Tuesday on charges of
murder, conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with evidence. Bond was set
at $250,000. Mendez, 33, is the fifth person indicted in connection with the
Jan. 13, 1999 stabbing death of Robert Ortega, who was attacked in his cell
at the Hobbs prison, owned and operated by Florida-based Wackenhut
Corrections Corp. (The Associated Press State and Local Wire)

June 21, 2002A prison inmate has been sentenced to life plus nine years for the
murder of a fellow prisoner who was stabbed to death in his cell - the victim
of 50 wounds. Paul Payne, 28, was sentenced after being convicted Monday of
murdering Richard Garcia in June 1999 at the privately run Lea County
Correctional Facility. According to trial testimony, the killers left
Garcia's cell yelling "white power!" and raising their fists. A
guard was removed from his job after an inquiry determined he had allowed
Payne and co-defendant John Price into Garcia's cell, Assistant District
Attorney Melissa Honigmann said. The Lea County facility is operated by
Florida-based Wackenhut Corrections Corp. (The Associated Press State and
Local Wire)

April 12, 2002Two ex-guards from a privately run Hobbs prison were convicted Friday
of civil rights violations in the 1998 beating of an inmate and of conspiring
with a third guard to cover it up. Lt. Matias Serrata, Lt. William Fuller and
Kendall Lipscomb of Wackenhut Corrections Corp. were all found guilty of
obstructing justice with the cover-up and of conspiring to obstruct justice.
Serrata and Fuller also were convicted of violating the civil rights of inmate
Eric Duran, who was kicked several times in the head. A fourth guard, Gary
Butler, who had pleaded guilty earlier to civil rights and conspiracy
charges, testified that he had hit himself in the face at the suggestion of
Fuller, then went to Hobbs police with a story that
the inmate had attacked him. "Those who we trust to enforce the law have
one of the most difficult and important of all jobs," U.S. Attorney
David Iglesias said in a statement released Friday. "When anyone in such
a position violates the rights of others, they not only injure the individual
but they also injure the vast majority of law enforcement officers who
perform their duties with honor." Serrata had said the incident happened
within 30 or 40 seconds while a riot was going on in an adjoining dining
area. The Lea County Correctional Facility, which holds up to 1,200 inmates,
is run Wackenhut. (AP)

March 31, 2002
The same day Hobbs prison inmate Eric Duran was rushed to a hospital
emergency room after losing consciousness, then-guard Gary Butler walked into
a Hobbs police station with bruises to his face and filed a report accusing
the prisoner of battering him. Nearly two years later, Butler admitted that
he punched himself in the face to try to justify an altercation with Duran,
who was kicked unconscious. Butler, 28, also told federal authorities that he
and other guards tried to cover up Duran's beating, concocting a story that
Duran hit himself on the floor, a wall and a windowsill while being
restrained. On Tuesday, a two-week trial begins in Roswell for former prison
lieutenants William Fuller, 37, and Matias Serrata Jr., 29, and former
officer Kendall Lipscomb, 25, who face federal charges in connection with the
Dec. 21, 1998, incident with Duran. Butler is expected to testify against
them. Some unnamed guards who witnessed the incident also are expected to
testify for the Justice Department's Office of Civil Rights, court records
say. Butler pleaded guilty in August 2001 to one count each of deprivation of
rights under color of law and conspiracy to commit a felony. As part of a
plea deal, Butler agreed to cooperate and truthfully tell investigators about
the incident. With his deal, Butler became one of a handful of guards who
admitted heavy-handedness at the Lea County Correctional Facility, which
holds up to 1,200 state inmates under contract with Florida-based Wackenhut
Corrections Corp. The Duran incident is one of three reported inmate beatings
in 1998 that left guards facing criminal charges. They were investigated by
state and local police as well as the FBI. "Gary Butler has agreed with
everything that Eric has said," Donatelli said. "Eric's account was
corroborated by numerous staff there. It's not just the word of an inmate
seeking damages from Wackenhut. It's also the word of people who worked for
Wackenhut." The Justice Department lawyers said Duran's assault followed
an incident when Duran refused to sit at his assigned seat in the prison
dining hall and was involved in an argument with Lipscomb and another guard.
Duran was taken to "P-15 hallway," where he "verbally
disrespected" Fuller, the brief said. The brief said Fuller yelled at
Duran to face a wall, put his hands on the wall and made unspecified threats.
According to the brief: Duran was ordered to put his hands behind his back to
be handcuffed, but only gave one hand because he was afraid of being beaten.
He asked that the guards videotape the incident, but the guards refused.
Duran finally gave both hands to be handcuffed, and when he did, Fuller and
Butler allegedly slammed him to the floor. The brief said Duran didn't
resist. "As Duran lay face down on the floor, surrounded by officers and
handcuffed behind his back, Lt. Fuller stood up, stepped to Duran's upper
body and delivered a forceful kick to the inmate's head," the trial
brief said. Butler also allegedly kicked Duran in the head. "Fuller and
Butler alternated kicking Duran, as the inmate's head 'flopped' back and
forth from one side to the other," the trial brief said. (Albuquerque
Journal)

March 13, 2002
Another former guard at the privately run prison in Hobbs has pleaded guilty
to federal charges related to the 1998 beatings of two inmates and subsequent
cover-ups. Former lieutenant Thomas Doyle McCoy entered guilty pleas Tuesday
in federal court in Albuquerque to two counts of conspiracy to obstruct
justice. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on each count.
The charges were filed by the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights
Division following an investigation of the Lea County Correctional Facility
by the FBI. As part of a plea bargain, McCoy admitted he participated in the
beatings of inmates David Gonzales and Tommy McManaway, who were assaulted
separately in August 1998. The beatings, court records say, were ordered by
former high-ranking officials at the prison, which is run by Florida-based
Wackenhut Corrections Corp. Prison warden Joe Williams has said the
administration changed hands in 1999, that none of the people involved in the
incidents works there any longer and that his guards treat inmates with
respect. Attorney Mark Donatelli, who represents McManaway in a suit against
the prison, said "we appreciate the willingness of Mr. McCoy to accept
responsibility for his actions. "More
importantly, we believe the investigation and prosecution by the Justice
Department will send a message to other corrections officers that will help
prevent other inmates from being victimized like Tommy was." McCoy's
plea follows that of former lieutenant Judson McPeters, who pleaded guilty Feb.
20 to two counts of obstruction of justice which stemmed from the beatings of
Gonzales and McManaway. According to McCoy's plea agreement, McCoy and
McPeters slammed Gonzales to the ground, where an officer handcuffed him.
McCoy "then kicked the restrained inmate and twisted his ankle until it
popped, while other officers also assaulted the inmate, although there was no
legitimate penological reason for the use of force," the plea agreement
said. The plea deal also said McCoy kicked McManaway in the testicles while
the inmate was lying face down, fully restrained, on
the shower room floor. Another lieutenant kicked McManaway in the side. The
document said guards and supervisors got together to concoct false stories.
For instance, they said the inmates lunged at or tried to strike guards,
requiring the use of force. The reports minimized the guards' use of force.
(Albuquerque Journal)

February 25, 2002The head of the privately run prison in Hobbs said the acts of a few
former guards or officials accused of battering inmates in 1998 do not
reflect the philosophy of the lockup. Joe Williams, warden of the Lea County
Correctional Facility, said last week that he and his staff have worked hard
to "turn this place around." Williams and many of his staff are
former corrections officers or wardens of lockups run by the state Department
of Corrections. The Hobbs prison is run by Florida-based Wackenhut
Corrections Corp. and houses up to 1,200 inmates under a contract with the
state. Williams made the remarks the day after a former lieutenant at the
prison admitted in court in Albuquerque that he and other prison guards
participated in the August 1998 beatings of two inmates and subsequent
cover-ups at the request of a former associate warden. The guard pleaded
guilty to two federal counts of obstruction of justice. A lawyer who fights
for inmate rights said after Wednesday's hearing that a similar incident at
the prison in December 1998 — in which four former guards allegedly beat an
inmate and covered it up — shows a pattern of abuse there at the time. The
FBI investigated the incidents and charges were filed by the U.S. Department
of Justice's Civil Rights Division, which alleges that inmates were falsely
blamed at both times by the guards for instigating incidents that required
use of force. The use of force was excessive and unjustified, according to
the Justice Department. The four ex-guards are to go on trial in April on
charges including conspiracy and violation of civil rights. (ABQ Journal)

February 21, 2002A former corrections officer at the privately run prison in Hobbs has
confirmed that he and other guards beat inmates and tried to cover up the
incidents at the request of an assistant warden in 1998. As part of a plea
deal, Judson McPeters of Hobbs, a former lieutenant at the Lea County
Correctional Facility, pleaded guilty Wednesday to two federal charges of
obstruction of justice — one week after the Department of Justice formally
charged him. The charges stem from an investigation of the Wackenhut
Corrections Corp. prison — which houses up to 1,200 state inmates under
contract with New Mexico — by the FBI and the Justice Department's Civil
Rights Division. McPeters, 35, faces a maximum of five years in prison on
each count. With the plea deal, he avoided charges of violating civil rights,
which carry stiffer penalties, his lawyer said. Prosecutors would not say
Wednesday whether more prison guards or officials would be charged. Four
former guards at the Hobbs prison are to go on trial in April on federal
charges alleging that they beat and kicked inmate Eric Duran in December 1998
and covered it up. McPeters — in court — named an assistant warden who
allegedly ordered him and other guards to beat inmates. A prosecutor said the
two cases are not related and involve different people. But Mark Donatelli,
an attorney who represents Duran and one of the inmates reportedly beaten by
McPeters, Tommy McManaway, said the two cases show a pattern of abuse, at
least in the late 1990s. Duran and McManaway have pending federal lawsuits
against officials or guards with the state, Lea County and Wackenhut.
Donatelli said he believed the two investigations represent the first
criminal prosecutions under federal civil rights law in state history.
"This was not an isolated incident," said Donatelli, a longtime
inmates' advocate. "It's part of the same pattern of physical abuse of
prisoners that was taking place for months at the facility." In court
documents, Justice Department trial lawyers Bobbi Bernstein and Alli Jernow
alleged that McPeters was part of a conspiracy. Bernstein read an account in
court, which McPeters admitted was true, that said the beatings occurred Aug.
11, 1998, and Aug. 13, 1998. The cover-up attempts went on through Aug. 31,
1998, according to the account. Bernstein said Gonzalez and McManaway were
beaten at separate times, including while they were handcuffed. They were
kicked about the body and McManaway was kicked "two times in the
testicles" by another guard, according to the account. Bernstein said a
supervisor who ordered Gonzalez's beating was present while the inmate was
being struck. She did not name the supervisor, but she said in the account
that McPeters, other guards and supervisors later met to concoct false
stories to give if they were ever questioned. "It raises some serious
questions about the policy that (Wackenhut) apparently, at least in the past,
participated in, condoned or encouraged — unlawful activities," lawyer
Crutchfield said. "I mean, you shouldn't have this type of stuff going
on with an organization of that size." (ABQ Journal)

December 18, 2001
An inmate at a private prison at Hobbs is alleging his civil rights were
violated when he was repeatedly kicked in the head three years ago in a
beating that resulted in the indictments of four former guards. The
lawsuit was filed Tuesday in federal court in Santa Fe against Wackenhut
Corp., which runs the Lea County Correctional Facility; Wackenhut officials;
Lea County; and the state correctional officers, including Corrections Secretary
Rob Perry. The lawsuit alleges Wackenhut officials engaged in
widespread violations of prisoners' civil rights and that Perry and other
state corrections officials were aware of beatings and other uses of excess
force, but took no meaningful steps to stop them. A federal indictment
in May accused the four former guards of beating and kicking inmate Eric
Duran while he was shackled on the floor, then trying to cover it up.
Former guard Gary Butler of Hobbs and former prison Lt. William Fuller of
Floresville, Texas, were accused of kicking Duran repeatedly in the head Dec.
21, 1998. Former Lt. Matias Serrata Jr. of Beeville, Texas, was accused
of doing nothing to stop the attack, while former guard Kendall Lipscomb was
accused of false testimony. Butler also was accused of beating himself
up so he could falsely blame Duran and justify the attack,
the U.S. attorney's office said when the indictments were released.
(AP)

August 3, 2001
An inmate charged with first-degree murder in the death of another prisoner
at the private Lea County Correctional Center pleaded guilty to second-degree
murder as a jury was being impaneled for his trial. Last month,
Ortega's family sued prison officials over his death. The civil rights
lawsuit filed in federal court in Albuquerque alleged state prison officials
and Wackenhut Corrections Corp., the Florida-based company that operates the
Lea County prison, knowingly created dangerous conditions that led to
Ortega's death. (AP)

July 17, 2001
The wife and three children of an inmate who was stabbed to death inside a
private prison in Hobbs more than two years ago are suing prison officials
over his killing. Carla Ortega claims in a federal civil rights lawsuit
that state prison officials and Wackenhut Corrections Corp., a Florida-based
company that owns and operates the Lea County Correctional Facility,
knowingly created dangerous conditions that led to the death of her husband,
Robert Ortega. Robert Ortega, 38, was stabbed to death inside his cell
with a home-made knife on Jan. 13, 1999 two days after he was transferred
from the Torrance County Detention Facility to the Hobbs prison, according to
the lawsuit. The suit further alleges that state and Wackenhut prison
officials knew Ortega's life was threatened by members of a prison gang, but
they failed to protect him. Also last month, the family of another
inmate, Richard Garcia, filed a similar lawsuit against Wackenhut and other
state prison officials. Garcia, 47, was in an isolation cell June 17,
1999, when a guard opened the door to his cell in administrative segregation,
allegedly allowing two inmates to enter and stab him 50 times in the back,
chest, head, face and arms, officials said at the time. (Albuquerque
Journal)

June 19, 2001
The family of an Albuquerque man who was killed two years ago inside a
privately run prison in southern New Mexico has filed a lawsuit against state
officials and the company in charge of the lockup. Richard Garcia's
relatives claim prison officials knowingly created dangerous conditions that
led to his death. Garcia, 47, was in an isolation cell in June 1999
when a guard opened the door, allegedly allowing two inmates to enter and
stab Garcia 50 times. Inmates Paul Payne, 27, and John Price, 29, were
charged with capital murder in Garcia's death. (AP)

May 21, 2001
The defendants may be former guards, but the latest case of private-prison
atrocity should put the whole notion of mercenary corrections in the
dock. Four guys in the hire of Wackenhut Corrections Corp. face federal
indictments in the beating and kicking of a Hobbs inmate. For good
measure, they're also charged with trying to cover up their brutality.
What neither corrections secretary, Rob Perry nor Senator Manny Aragon (two
of the masterminds behind New Mexico's foray into prisons for profit) would
admit is this: Even if Wackenhut and other prison companies weren't
committing dangerous, sometimes deadly, errors, they make their money
squeezing a profit margin out of warehoused human beings. By their very
nature, private prisons create a demand for convicts. That demand can
skew criminal-justice proceedings -- against defendants, who, under the
American system are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty.
Handing off prison-running responsibility to the for-profit sector has had
predictable results. The governor, his corrections secretary and the
New Mexico Legislature must it back. ( The Santa Fe New Mexican)

May 19, 2001
A Bernalillo man who works in state prisons is suing
Wackenhut Corrections Corp. over injuries he suffered during a 1999
riot at the private prison in Hobbs. Lawrence Jaramillio, 32, works for
the state Correction Department and was a member of the Penitentiary of New
Mexico Security Threat Group Unit in 1999. Jaramillo was sent to the
Lea County Correctional Facility in April 1999 for a routine investigation of
groups or gangs within the prison. Jaramillo is more like a police
detective rather than a jail guard. "At the time of his work visit
on April 6, 1999, (Jaramillo) and other Penitentiary of New Mexico personnel
were assaulted and battered by rioting inmates...," the lawsuit says in
part. The lawsuit alleges the riot was caused by Wackenhut's
negligence. (ABQ Journal)

May 18, 2001
Four former employees of Wackenhut Corrections Corp. have been charged with
crimes in connection with a Dec. 21, 1998, incident at a privately run prison
in Hobbs. Two have been charged with using excessive force against an
inmate and then covering up the incident, according to indictments returned
Thursday by a federal grand jury here. The charges stem from the
incident at the 1,200-bed Lea County Correctional Facility, run by Wackenhut,
in which a guard and a supervisory lieutenant allegedly assaulted inmate Eric
Duran and kicked the inmate repeatedly in the head. Later, the
corrections officers and two other employees met in a conference room and
allegedly agreed on a common cover story that the inmate struck one of the
guards twice in the face with his fist and tried to bite the guard.
Then, according to an allegedly fabricated story, a struggle with the guards
followed and Duran fell and hit the back of his head on a window sill.
(Albuquerque Journal)

April 18, 2001
A Native American is protesting a new corrections policy that does not allow
ceremonies, sweat lodges or smoking. A 36-year-old state-penitentiary
inmate has been on a hunger strike for more than two weeks to protest prison
policies he believes deprive American Indians of religious liberties.
Corrections Department spokesperson Gerges Scott said both the sweat-lodge
ban and the no-smoking policy are justified in the North Facility because the
inmates there are all "disruptive or difficult to manage."
COPA board member Tilda Sosaya said Tuesday Chavez has been classified as a
Discipline problem because of his role as a "jailhouse
lawyer." Scott denied this. "I believe the reason that
he is (at the North) is that he was involved in a disturbance by Native
American inmates in April 1999 at the Hobbs facility." About 150
inmates participated in the April 6, 1999, riot at the Hobbs facility, which
is operated by the private Wackenhut Corp. The uprising was led by
Native American inmates who claimed their religious rights weren't being
honored. Their complaints included the fact that the prison was charging
sweat-lodge participants for firewood used in the ceremony. (The Santa
Fe New Mexican)

February 17, 2001
Nine American Indian prisoners are claiming illegal interference with their
religious practices in a lawsuit filed against New Mexico corrections
officials. Some of the inmates, admit being involved in an April 1999 melee
that followed similar complaints over religious freedom at the privately run
Lea County Correctional facility in Hobbs. The prisoners, who were allege
racial discrimination, are asking for a jury trail and punitive damages in
excess of $400 million to prevent corrections officials from practicing
similar alleged constitutional violations. The men allege that after they
formed a self-help group in the Hobbs prison in 1998, Warden Joseph Williams
began to dismantle the programs and activities they had established. They
were allowed to participate in sweat lodge ceremonies, but problems followed,
"including outright refusal to provide firewood," the lawsuit
states. The inmates claim they were forced to use chemically treated wood
with toxins that could cause serious medical problems. The men allege in the
lawsuits that their religious ceremonies were interrupted or stopped on
several occasions, and some of their religious instruments, such as a
ceremonial drum and eagle and other feathers, were confiscated. the inmates' complaints fell on deaf ears, according to
the lawsuit. "Each defendant either ignored the complaints or denied the
requested relief so that the abuses and racial harassment continued
unabated," it states. On April 5, 1999, one of their sacred religious
drums was confiscated, and inmates claim it was desecrated. "This action
was furtherance in a long list of abuses and racially discriminatory actions
by defendant Wackenhut," the lawsuit states. The next day, a disturbance
broke out in the dinning hall and spread to a corridor. Corrections officials
said the riot appeared to have been started by several Indian inmates upset
over religious freedom issues. (Journal Northern Bureau)

December 14, 2000
It's going to cost New Mexico taxpayers more to house inmates at the
privately run prison in Lea County. Perry told the Legislative Finance
Committee that the new contract with Florida-based Wackenhut Corrections
Corp. calls for an increase from $49.88 a day to $53 a day - 5.7 percent. The
additional cost to the state would be about $1.2 million per year. It would
be Wackenhut's second boost in per diem in a year. In March, some legislators
blasted Perry for previous increase 5 percent per diem for Wackenhut at both
its prisons (Santa Fe New Mexican, Dec. 14, 2000)

October 2000
An advisory letter from the state attorney general's office finds the state
Corrections Department exceeded its authority by contracting with Wackenhut
to give a retroactive per diem pay adjustment. (Santa Fe New Mexican, Oct.7,
2000)

June 18, 1999
An inmate was found stabbed to death in his cell. Two rival gang members were
suspected of the crime. This is the third fatal stabbing at the facility.

April 6, 1999
A group of 150 inmates rioted at this facility, producing minor injuries to
13 staff members. The incident started in the dining hall, but it spread to
other pars of the facility. At issue, in part, were religious demands of
Native American inmates

January 13, 1999
Inmate death An inmate was found stabbed to death at the prison. WCC said the
stabbing appeared to be gang related. This is the eighth stabbing and second
stabbing death since the prison opened 6 months prior to this event.

Lincoln County Detention CenterCarrizozo, New
Mexico
Emerald Corrections (formerly run by Cornell Corporation, formerly
Correctional Systems Inc)July 28, 2010 Albuquerque
Journal
Managers of the Lincoln County Detention Center in Carrizozo have fired an
employee who was injured in a July 12 attack by a prisoner, the Ruidoso News
reported. Walter Beall, the jail's chief security officer, was given his
notice of termination last Friday, the News said. "I didn't get a copy
of the termination," Beall told the News on Monday. "I was so
stunned when they called me in and I saw the word 'termination' across the
top of the paper, that I don't remember much about
the details of it." Beall told the News that he remembered reading on
his termination notice that his firing had to do with having a violent and
dangerous inmate unsecured, endangering staff and violating policy, but jail
Warden Marcello Villegas would not comment. Emerald Companies, which runs the
private jail, had not commented as of the News' press time, but have already
listed Beall's position of chief of security on its website as being open.
Beall's attacker, J. Tyrone Riordan, had just returned to the jail after his
removal from a competency hearing at the district courthouse, which was to
determine whether Riordan was competent to defend himself in his trial for
the 2006 murder of Johnathan Lopez, the News said. Riordan became angry and
began yelling at the judge, using foul language and after ignoring the
judge's warnings about his behavior, was removed from the courtroom and
returned to the jail, the paper reported. After Riordan scuffled with several
jail personnel, Beall was taken to the Lincoln County Medical Center for
treatment of a broken nose and multiple bruises and contusions and was
released the same day, according to the News. Beall said that he had been
assisting Riordan since last September with his case research, documenting as
much as 20 hours in a given week, allowing him access to his computer to view
CDs of discovery material, the News said. Beall also said that during those
sessions he would remove Riordan's cuffs so he could use the phone and work
on his files, but would sit next to him to prohibit any unauthorized access
to the Internet, the paper reported. "I wrote the policy for the Echo
Unit (for high-risk inmates) where Riordan was being housed at the time and I
never violated that policy," Beall said. Beall said that had Riordan
been in handcuffs, it would not have kept the inmate from assaulting him, the
News said. "It would have given him leverage to choke me with the
cuffs," said Beall. "What I did with Riordan was what we had been
doing with him for the past year in assisting him with his pro se cases,
prior to and after the new warden's arrival."

December 23, 2008 Ruidoso Sun
A Lincoln County man has been convicted for his part in a jail riot that
occurred at the Lincoln County Detention Center on Jan. 13, 2008. Jose
Prieto, 25 was convicted Friday of assault on a jail, conspiracy and criminal
damage to property exceeding $1,000. Eighteen prisoners in the Carrizozo
facility's "Delta Pod" were charged with offenses after the riot.
The pod had housed 28 prisoners ranging from accused murderers to petty
misdemeanor probation violations. Since the riots, Emerald Correctional
Management Company has assumed jail management from Cornell Corrections
Company, and this type of prisoner housing has been under study.

June 19, 2008 Ruidoso News
Before Lincoln County commissioners filed over to the county detention center
in Carrizozo for a semi-annual tour and lunch, an official with Emerald
Correctional Management Inc. briefed them on changes since the company took
over May 4. Al Patino, vice president for governmental affairs for Emerald,
said security was "first and foremost" among plenty of changes.
Emerald took over from Cornell Companies, the firm that absorbed Correctional
System Inc., which managed the jail since it opened in April 2001. But
complaints about staffing shortages, the filing of several lawsuits and an
in-mate disturbance in January created dissatisfaction. Cornell officials in
February announced they intended to execute a 90-day notice to terminate the
contract with the county that was to run until August 2009. Emerald was the
only company to respond to a request for proposals. Patino said they found
equipment in disrepair and other items needing maintenance. They also
painted. But major changes were tied to security, he said. "We found a
lot of procedural issues, such as classification of inmates," Patino
said. "We determined why each inmate was there and his previous history
to decide on the proper housing." A warden from one of their Texas
prisons helped identify problems, he said. For the one juvenile in the jail,
they worked with the district attorney, then requested and received in writing
a court order from the judge for him to stay until sentenced. Commission
Chairman Tom Battin asked if the company expected to detain juveniles on a
regular basis and Patino said no, this 16-year-old is being sentenced as an
adult and is a special case. Patino thanked County Manager Tom Stewart, who
was instrumental in allowing the company to address issues immediately, he
said.

April 17, 2008 Ruidoso News
A one year contract with four renewal options was approved Tuesday by Lincoln
County commissioners with a new firm to manage the county detention center in
Carrizozo. Emerald Correctional Management LLC, founded in 1996 with
headquarters in Louisiana, was represented by Al Patińo, director of special
projects, and Clay Lee, chief executive officer. They were in the county seat
of Carrizozo Monday beginning the transition of detention center employees
from Cornell Industries to Emerald. In February, Cornell officials notified
the county they intended to terminate the company's contract with the county "for
convenience," with an effective date of May 4. The contract was to run
through August 2009. The county took aggressive action for the procurement of
a new operator and consideration of careful planning for an orderly
transition, said County Manager Tom Stewart. Emerald was the only responsive
submission to a request for proposals advertised by the county with a March
28 deadline for submission. After a closed executive session during a special
commission meeting Friday to consider the proposal from Emerald officials,
commissioners awarded the RFP to the company, subject to negotiation of a
successful contract. Following the recommendation of Stewart, and with a few
minor changes proposed by County Attorney Alan Morel from the initial
submission, the contract was approved Tuesday in a unanimous vote by
commissioners. "The firm has begun steps to transition current employees
to the new company to meet the May 4 deadline for assuming operations,"
Stewart told commissioners. Hitting the deadline without a management company
could have resulted in the jail being closed temporarily while Stewart
attempted to organize a county-run operation. The changes specified in the
approval included: County prisoners are given first priority to be housed in
the center. A flat fee is charged to the county by Emerald, whether the
prisoner is county or federal. The fee is $51.75 per day per prisoner. More
definition of who will provide transport personnel and under what
circumstances. The county provides the vehicles in all cases.
Pre-adjudication, Emerald will furnish the driver/guard. After adjudication,
the County Sheriff's Department will handle the job. Sheriff Rick Virden
detailed some other situations where his department would be responsible,
which included someone who commits an offense inside the county and is
arrested outside New Mexico. No psychological evaluation is required for
employees. Patińo said in Texas, no correctional officers are required to be
evaluated. Insurance coverage was increased from $1 million to $3 million for
occurrences and limits of liability. A provision for a performance bond was
eliminated. In subsequent option years, the rates will not be increased by
Emerald more than a 2.5 cap on the Consumer Price Index. Stewart said he was
extremely encouraged by the contract and the attitude of company executives.
"The company is forward-looking and they are discussing options for the
future," he said. The center holds 144 prisoners. He based his operating
calculations on 130 inmates, Stewart said, adding, the more beds that can be
leased to federal law enforcement agencies, the better the financial break
for the county. He anticipates a $388,000 increase and an annual operating
budget of $2,760,538, "but that covers more officers and a facility up-to-par
with standards by the American Corrections Association," Stewart said.
Revenues generated by bed rentals and other sources will offset about
$1,360,000, leaving the cost to the county at $1.4 million. Stewart said the
company's reputation is good and Lee just returned from an operation they run
in Israel. Morel said a quality assurance plan will be brought back to the
commission later that will cover employee training requirements.

January 25, 2008 Ruidoso News
An investigation by a Lincoln County Grand Jury of the county detention
center launched before a riot incident Jan. 13 already is bearing positive
results, said 12th Judicial District Attorney Scot Key. He explained that
during the normal course of reviewing several cases that involved the jail,
including an aggravated assault and escape, grand jury members requested an
investigation of the situation at the jail in the county seat of Carrizozo.
"They wanted a better idea of what was happening," Key said Thursday.
"They completed the review and sent a report to District Judge Karen
Parsons." When a riot subsequently erupted at the jail this month,
"That kind of situation kind of highlighted what the grand jury was
concerned about. "As a result of two or three
things and my on-going concern about the jail, about staffing and (personnel)
training and other issues, we asked the county commission to start looking
into it prior to the uprising, which highlighted the need for commissioners
to review their contract with Cornell Companies. I felt our office had to
intervene." But Key said he's seen positive results. "We've gotten
involved. Cornell and the county have had many discussions and I think the
lines of communication have opened," Key said. "We've studied the issues
and problems, and have a positive plan of action for the future. "Last week, our office began training all jail
staff and Cornell agreed to strategic planning to provide more training to
hire more and more qualified people from a larger geographic area. Very
positive things are going to happen with Cornell, the county and the jail,
and we look forward to really good service being provided to the citizens of
the county." Key met with commissioners Tuesday in a closed executive
session. One of the incidents sparking the investigation into the jail's
operation by Cornell under contract with the county was an escape last
October by an inmate, who held a guard captive at knifepoint. County Manager
Tom Stewart said he could not discuss specifics, but commented that,
"The county is in beneficial discussions with the district attorney
regarding a variety of jail issues in general."

January 14, 2008 Ruidoso News
Twenty-eight prisoners in the Delta pod at the Lincoln County Detention
Center in Carrizozo were at the center of a riot reported at approximately 7
p.m. Sunday. As per policy, Cornell Companies, which manages the detention
center, immediately contacted local law enforcement to provide rapid
perimeter containment on the outside of the main fence. Responding to the
scene were the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department, New Mexico State Police
and the Carrizozo Police Department. Lincoln County EMS and the Carrizozo
Volunteer Fire Department were also at the scene while a situation assessment
was made. Within an hour, the situation was reported as "contained"
with no serious injuries to inmates, officers or prison personnel.
Reportedly, tear gas was used to bring the riot under control, and emergency
technicians were called to administer aid as a result of the gas. Severe
damage to the Delta pod was reported, including the destruction of
surveillance cameras, broken glass and bathroom fixtures torn from the wall.
Investigators later reported that approximately six of the 28 prisoners were
actually involved in the riot and further interviews would be conducted to
determine the cause of the violence. A number of the prisoners involved have
been transferred to other facilities. Last October, a prisoner escaped the
Lincoln County Detention Center when he held a guard at knifepoint. The
escapee was captured later that day after he was sighted and reported by a
county resident. In March 2002, a "mini" riot at the detention
center ensued when inmates protested the snack policy in the commissary,
causing $3,000 in damage to windows, mattresses and plumbing. The riot was
blamed mostly on federal prisoners transferred to the facility.

January 14, 2008 AP
Tear gas was used to quell an hour-long melee instigated by about one-half
dozen prisoners in a pod at the Lincoln County Detention Center. The
disturbance began about 6:30 p.m. Sunday and was subdued by guards and
Lincoln County sheriff's officers, said Charles Seigel of San Diego, a
spokesman for Cornell Companies, which runs the jail. Investigators were
trying to determine what triggered the uprising, he said. A few prisoners
were treated for minor injuries, Seigel said. None of the guards or sheriff's
officers were injured, he said. A small group of
prisoners tried to take over the dorm-style pod that holds 28 inmates, and
four to six prisoners were continuously involved in the uprising, Seigel
said. "There was some damage to plumbing and toilets, things like
that," he said. A surveillance camera also was damaged, Seigel said. The
jail has five pods that hold a maximum of 32 prisoners each.

October 11, 2007 Ruidoso News
A prisoner who made an armed escape from the Lincoln County Detention Center
a few minutes after midnight Thursday morning was arrested in White Oaks
Thursday afternoon. Fred Berry, 36, was taken into custody by the Lincoln
County Sheriff's Office and a knife measuring between eight and nine inches
was confiscated. In his escape, Berry held prison guard Raymond LaFave with a
knife at his neck and demanded to be released from the prisoner pod and the
detention center. According to the probable cause statement filed in Ruidoso
Magistrate Court, Berry also threatened Lieutenant Randy Lucero with the
knife. Reportedly, Berry told the guards, "If you don't let me out,
we're dying here tonight." Charles Seigel, a public information officer
for Cornell Companies, the detention center's manager, confirmed that it is
against company policy for the prisoner to be released from the jail. "I
can't speak to the particular situation," he said by phone, "but it
is definitely not our policy for the doors to have been opened."
Cornell's local commander Roger Jeffers was unavailable for comment at press
time. In the BOLO (Be On the Look Out) that was issued immediately after the
escape, Berry was described as a white male with blue eyes, 6 feet tall and
230 pounds with long brown hair (in a ponytail when last seen) Berry added
several charges to his list of crimes when he cut the tires on two vehicles
as he departed the detention center. Then he forced LaFave to drive him to the
nearby Allsup's at the intersection of Highways 380 and 54, where, at
knife-point, he robbed the store of cigarettes and a lighter before
disappearing on foot into the night.

March 12, 2002 A weekend without candy bars sparked a mini-riot at
the Lincoln County Detention Center that lasted less than a half-hour.
Prisoners in one of the jail's dormitory units tried to light their
mattresses on fire, plugged up their toilets and threw things at guards who
tried to settle them down, according to Lincoln County Manager Tom Stewart.
The reason for the uprising: A woman who sells the prisoners chips, candy and
other snacks did not show up over the weekend. "They didn't get their
candy bars," Stewart said. "They didn't get their snacks." The
jail in Carrizozo, which is less than two years old and is managed by
Correctional Systems Inc., was in the process of switching from a local
vendor for inmate snacks to a larger out-of-state company, Stewart said. He
said the local vendor, who comes to the jail and takes orders for snacks and
then returns to deliver them, stopped coming. That left inmates with no
alternatives to jail food, and that made them mad, he said. (ABQ Journal)

Los Palomas
Apartments
Associated Securities Industries
November 19, 2004 Albuquerque JournalA Santa Fe woman is suing a
local security company because it hired a guard with a criminal record who
wound up attacking her while he was on duty at Los Palomas Apartments in
January, according to the lawsuit.Former Associated Securities Industries security guard Anthony Sena,
23, of Camino Torcido Loop, pleaded no contest earlier this year to a charge
of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, to wit, a baton; and a count of
attempted kidnapping, for attacking the woman, Edis Sorta. According to the civil
suit filed Monday in Santa Fe District Court by attorney Thomas Clark, Sena
"was incompetent to perform the work required as a security guard for
the Defendant ASI (Associated Securities Industries), because ... Sena was
predisposed to violence and a person with prior convictions for felony
offenses."When asked to
elaborate, Clark said Sena has convictions from out of state for cocaine
possession, marijuana possession and illegal firearm possession."We believe he has a felony criminal
history that would preclude him from being able to carry a firearm,"
Clark said in a phone interview Thursday.

McKinley County Detention Center/Adult Facility
Gallup, New Mexico
Management and Training Corporation (formerly run by Correctional
Services Corporation)
January 5, 2007 Gallup Independent
It took the jury less than two hours with lunch included to find Brian Orr
not guilty of using his power at the McKinley County Adult Detention Center
to sexually abuse three female prisoners in 2003. The issue in the trial centered
around the fact that jurors had to decide who was telling the truth the three
female prisoners from Wyoming or Orr, who worked at the facility at the time.
The three women told the jury of having girlfriend-boyfriend relations with
Orr, getting gifts and being abused. One woman told of being handcuffed nude
in his office while he took photos of her on his digital camera. The problem
was that was all the jury had to go by the words of the three women. There
was no corroborating evidence and Steve Seeger, Orr's defense attorney,
stressed in his closing arguments the background of the three women and the
reasons why they were in jail in the first place. Pointing out their crimes,
which ranged from forgery and passing bad checks to distribution of methampthemines,
he asked the jury "would you buy a vehicle" from them? In the end,
the jury apparently decided not to believe anyone and issued a statement
after the verdict about "the poor quality of the investigation" and
their belief that it wasn't done "in a professional and competent
manner."

January 3, 2007 Gallup
Independent
Testimony began Tuesday in the Brian Orr case. Orr faces three counts of
criminal penetration stemming from accusations made by three Wyoming women,
who were incarcerated in the McKinley County Adult Detention Center in 2003
and 2004. Two of the three accusers testified Tuesday, claiming that they had
a boyfriend-girlfriend type of relationship with Orr while they were
incarcerated. Orr at the time was a captain at the jail. One of the women
claimed that on one occasion as she was being moved from one area of the jail
to another Orr put a hand down her pants and inserted his finger inside her.
The other woman claimed Orr did the same thing to her once when she was in
his office. Both women claimed that Orr made promises to each of them about a
future after they got out of jail, brought them
gifts and gave them favorable treatment. Orr, who was terminated from his
position after the charges were made, was also sued in civil court by the three
women. Also named in the suit were McKinley County and Management Training
Center, the private company that ran the jail at the time. A settlement was
eventually made in the civil suit and McKinley County officials said that no
county money was involved. MTC and its insurance company agreed to pay the
settlement, the terms of which were kept confidential, although one of the
accusers at the trial said she received $55,000 as her share of the
settlement. This civil suit is expected to play a major role in the criminal
case with Steve Seeger, Orr's defense attorney, asking the accusers how the
American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the suit on behalf of the female
inmates, got involved in the case in the first place. Both women testified
that the ACLU contacted them and not the other way around. This led Mike
Calligan, chief deputy prosecutor for the McKinley County's District
Attorney's Office, to ask permission to call to the stand Wednesday one of
the ACLU attorneys to explain how the organization got involved in the case.

January 28, 2006 Gallup
Independent
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police arrested fugitive and former McKinley County
Adult Detention Center supervisor Bryan Orr this week in connection with the
sexual assault of two female inmates. Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael
Calligan on Friday confirmed Orr's arrest in the Las Vegas area. Orr was
wanted in McKinley County on charges of criminal sexual contact with an
inmate. The charges stem from his tenure as a lieutenant at the detention center.
He resigned from his position with the facility in 2005 and failed to appear
for his arraignment on the criminal charges in August. Sheila Black, 28, and
Christine Herden, 23, had been jailed at the detention center in Gallup in
2003 because there was no room for them at the Wyoming Women's Center in
Lusk. The women claim Orr sexually assaulted and took nude pictures of them
during their stay at the facility. Orr is also a target of a federal lawsuit
filed by The American Civil Liberties Union that cites "cruel and
unusual punishment" on his behalf. The McKinley County Board of
Commissioners and former managing agent, Management and Training Corporation,
were also named in the suit for failure to properly supervise and train Orr.

January 24, 2006 Casper
Star-Tribune
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a federal lawsuit against a New
Mexico detention officer, alleging he sexually assaulted two female inmates
from Wyoming at a Gallup, N.M., jail and photographed them in the nude. At
the time of the alleged incidents in 2003, the inmates were housed in New
Mexico because of overcrowding at Wyoming's only female correctional
institution, the Wyoming Women's Center in Lusk. The lawsuit claims sexual
abuse and cruel and unusual punishment by Detention Officer Brian Orr of the
McKinley County (N.M.) Detention Center. The complaint was filed on behalf of
inmates Sheila Black and Christine Herden. The ACLU alleges that Orr
repeatedly sexually assaulted the two women and photographed them in the
nude, causing physical injury and severe psychological and emotional
distress. The complaint also alleges that the jail's acting warden, Gilbert
Lewis, the McKinley County commissioners and the Centerville, Utah, company
that managed the jail, Management and Training Corp., were negligent for
failing to properly train and supervise Orr.

September 4, 2003McKinley County is terminating its contract with
the Utah-based company that has been operating the county jail, a facility
plagued by problems. Four inmates escaped from the jail, run by
Management & Training Corp., on July 4, after being left unsupervised in
a recreation yard. All four were later captured or surrendered, but
investigators said the escapees had a three-hour head start because guards at
the jail did not miss them until a head count later that day. MTC also
operates the Santa Fe County jail and that facility too has had problems.
Warden Cody Graham, who formerly headed the Santa Fe County jail, was fired a
week after the escape. In Santa Fe, a nine-member state audit team found the
jail needed to improve inmate classification, grievance procedures,
discipline, records and inmate programs. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

July 11, 2003
The McKinley County jail's warden and the lone corrections officer who was
left in charge of 80 inmates during a Fourth of July jailbreak have been
fired. Management & Training Corporation, which manages the
McKinley County Adult Detention Center on a contract, took the action after a
series of security failures on the Independence Day holiday allowed four
inmates, including three suspected in killings, to escape. (ABQ
Journal)

July 9, 2003
An investigation into the Fourth of July jailbreak at the McKinley County
Adult Detention Center in Gallup has concluded that mistakes in all areas of
security allowed two accused killers and two other inmates to escape. Inadequate
staffing because of the Independence Day holiday also led to a failure to
take a head count, which gave the escaped inmates a three-hour head start,
the investigation found. Manuel Vasquez, previously charged with
child abuse resulting in death, was arrested several hours after the break
when he sought treatment for cuts and a fractured ankle at a Gallup hospital.
Robert Kiro, awaiting trial for killing a Gallup police officer in a raid on
Kiro's trailer home in 2001, was arrested in Chambers, Ariz., several hours
later. Two of the four escaped prisoners remained free Tuesday. Velasquez,
Kiro, another accused killer and a fourth inmate being held for shooting at a
house, escaped when they were left unsupervised with about a dozen other
inmates for an hour in the jail's recreation area. "The
facility was understaffed for one thing," said Dee Dee Gonzales, a
McKinley County Sheriffs Department investigator who was charged with looking
into the escape. "They let people off for the holiday." Jails
count on three things to keep inmates within their walls: supervision,
security cameras and fences. The investigation found failures in all
three areas. Gonzales said her report will be sent to McKinley
County officials and to the Management and Training Corp., which runs the
jail on a contract. Warden Cody Graham did not return telephone
calls Tuesday. Gonzales said one corrections officer was on duty
Tuesday in a four-pod unit that held about 80 prisoners. A second officer
would usually be on duty but had been given the day off because of the
holiday, Gonzales said. Additionally, a security camera failed
to cover a spot in the recreation area where the inmates escaped from. And two
sections of fence were not joined, allowing the escapees to reach the parking
lot. Kiro and the other inmates were let into the recreation
area about 9 a.m. Friday and left there while the officer on duty returned to
the other inmates, Gonzales said. Some of the inmates apparently
hoisted Kiro and the others onto their shoulders and allowed them to climb
toward a wire mesh cover. The mesh is in sections and the sections were not
attached, which allowed the inmates to pull two pieces apart and squeeze through,
Gonzales said. Once on the roof, they crawled over razor wire by
draping it with bed sheets and climbed down to a lower roof and then onto the
ground. Police believe they were met by a car and drove away
from the jail about 9:30 a.m. They were not discovered missing until about 2
p.m. because the officer did not do head counts, Gonzales said. Gonzales
said disciplinary action would be up to the warden or Management and Training
Corp. officials. (ABQ Journal)

July 7, 2003
Two of four inmates who escaped the McKinley County jail Friday remained at
large Saturday evening, as an internal investigation continued into how the
escape was allowed to occur. Robert Kiro, 34, was taken into
custody without resistance at 10:15 p.m. Friday at the Chieftain Motel in
Chambers, Ariz., 13 hours after the Gallup jailbreak, Gallup police Capt.
Bobby Silva said. Kiro was charged with killing a Gallup policeman two years
ago. "Gallup will immediately begin the proceedings to
bring (Kiro) back," Silva said. Others who police said
escaped Friday morning were Eric Leyba, 18, accused of beating a Gallup man
to death in March 2002; Alejandro Balderama, 23, charged with shooting at a
dwelling; and Manuel Vasquez, 32, who suffered a fractured right heel and an
arm laceration in his jump to freedom. The escapees jumped three
floors from the jail's roof-top recreation area during an exercise period,
which began at 9 a.m. Vasquez hitched a ride to a local hospital
for treatment of his injuries. Hospital officials dissatisfied with his
explanation summoned police who then learned of the escape, McKinley County
Deputy Sheriff Ron Williams said. That was more than three hours
after the jailbreak, he said. Vasquez was arrested at the
hospital Friday afternoon. Leyba and Balderama remained at large Saturday. Williams
said the delay in reporting the escape left police and sheriff's officers
"totally disgusted, and it's disheartening." Warden
Cody Graham, who runs the facility for Management Training Corp., a private
jail operator contracted by McKinley County, said, "What happened
(Friday) is unfortunate. We are looking into it, and whatever corrective
measures need to be taken will be taken. Whatever
security enhancements we need to do we will do."
Graham said that at any one time, 30 to 40 inmates can be placed
into the recreation area, and they can stay in there for up to an hour. They
are counted when they are placed there and they are supposed to be counted as
they come back in, he said. Asked if that recount occurred, he said,
"we're still trying to find that out." The recreation
area should have been monitored, Graham said. "They were
not on that day physically supervised by guards, but there are two cameras up
there that are supposed to be monitored," he said. (ABQ
Journal)

July 7, 2003
Law enforcement officials are investigating why an escape from a privately
run county jail went unreported until one of the four fugitives, injured
jumping from the jail roof, showed up at a hospital a few hours later.
Two of the inmates, including one charged with murder, were still on the run
this morning. "We in law enforcement are totally disgusted, and
it's disheartening," said McKinley County Sheriff's Deputy Ron
Williams. The four escaped by leaping three floors from the jail's
rooftop exercise enclosure during an exercise period that began about 9 a.m.
Friday, authorities said. Law enforcement officials found out about the
escape more than three hours later when one of the inmates, Manuel Vasquez,
32, hitched a ride to a hospital, where doctors became suspicious of his
explanation for his fractured heel and cut arm and called police, Williams
said. Another inmate was captured late Friday. Robert Kiro, 34, who
scheduled to face trial Aug. 11 in connection with the killing of a Gallup police
officer, was arrested at a motel in Chambers, Ariz., Gallup police Capt.
Bobby Silva said. "There obviously was human error," said
jail warden Cody Graham, who runs the facility for Management Training Corp.,
a private jail operator under contract with McKinley County. "I
need to determine what exactly did not take place when it comes to our
procedures," he said. Graham said inmates Eric Leyba, 18, and
Alejandro Balderama, 23, were still missing this morning. Leyba is charged
with beating a Gallup man to death in 2002. Balderama was being held on
charges of shooting at a dwelling. Gallup is about 120 miles northwest
of Albuquerque. (AP)

May 1, 2003
A man who was let go as warden in Santa Fe County returned Wednesday a warden
for the McKinley County Adult Detention Center. Cody Graham had been
warden in Gallup when Ogden, Utah-based Management and Training Corp. took
over the operation of the jail in January 2001. He was transferred to
Santa Fe later that year. Both the McKinley County jail and the Santa
Fe County jail are run by MTC. Santa Fe County officials told the
company about inmates' complaints of being denied toilet paper, clothing and
medical care. An advisory committee on the jail said MTC did not
provide enough case managers, had a high turnover in staff and needed to
improve medical staffing. (AP)

May 19, 2002
The McKinley County jail was locked down Sunday after disgruntled inmates set
a mattress on fire, jail officers reported. Eleven inmates locked themselves
in a section of the jail where the fire started, but the incident was quickly
quelled, said Sandy Aragon, director of communications at the Gallup-McKinley
County 911 center. The inmates came out and the fire was extinguished, Aragon
said. The jail is run by a private company, Management Training Corp.
(Albuquerque Journal)

November 26, 1999
On Friday, November 26, five inmates escaped from the county jail operated by
Correctional Services Corp. This brings the total to nine the number of
inmates who have escaped from the prison in the last three months. CSC’s vice
president blamed the escapes on the facility claiming it is structurally
unsound. The inmates climbed through a skylight. CSC recently lost the
contract to run this prison. (Albuquerque Journal, 11/26/99)

September, 1999
Four inmates escaped from the private jail in New Mexico operated by
Correctional Services Corp. The sheriff’s office was not notified of the
escape until an hour and 15 minutes has passed. They crawled through an air
vent. Two were jailed on parole violation and burglary charges. The other two
escapees were in jail awaiting trial on murder, aggravated battery and
kidnapping charges. (Albuquerque Journal, 9/6-8/99)

Metropolitan
Detention Center
AramarkMay 25, 2015 post-gazette.comNew Mexico: Aramark employee smuggling drugsAfter a lengthy investigation,
detectives say they now know who has been smuggling drugs into the
Metropolitan Detention Center. According to investigators, 23-year-old Nick
Perea admitted to bringing in dozens of Suboxone strips to inmates at the
jail. At that time, Perea was working for Aramark services in the laundry
department. Police say most of those strips were delivered to an inmate named
Steven Mertz. Investigators say they strip searched Mertz and found a total
of 15 Suboxone strips. Both men are now facing charges in connection to this
case.
New Mexico Department of CorrectionsAramark, CCA, GEO Group, WexfordState
gets tougher on private prisons - Operators face fine as leniency disappears
under Martinez administration: March 1, 2012, Trip Jennings, The
New Mexican: Damning expose on how former DOC Secretary and former Wackenhut
warden cost state millions of dollars in un-collected fines against
for-profits.Dec 13, 2013 Albuquerque Journal
News

Nine jurors voted for death, and
three voted for life. That means convicted murderer John Charles McCluskey
will receive a life sentence without possibility of release, rather than
death. After a process strung out more than five months, the federal jury was
in court just five minutes Wednesday as the judge read their verdict form
giving a life sentence to McCluskey. A death sentence requires unanimity
among the jurors, and they could not reach that level of agreement during
four days of deliberation. The 30-page special verdict form asked jurors to
look at 160 mitigating factors weighing against death and seven aggravating
factors weighing in favor of death in the Aug. 2, 2010, kidnapping and murder
of Gary and Linda Haas. The retired couple had left Tecumseh, Okla., headed
for a Colorado fishing vacation when they were kidnapped for their travel
trailer and pickup at a rest stop on Interstate 40 in eastern New Mexico.
They were shot about an hour later at a remote site north of the interstate
by McCluskey, according to trial testimony and the jury’s verdicts in other
phases of the complicated federal death case. McCLUSKEY: Jury deadlocked
after four days. McCluskey, 48, had escaped just days earlier from a state
prison in Arizona with Tracy Province, also an inmate, and with the help of
McCluskey’s cousin and girlfriend Casslyn Welch, who provided money, supplies
and reconnaissance of the prison. Both were codefendants in the federal case
charging conspiracy to commit carjacking and murder and testified for the
government in exchange for life sentences. U.S. District Judge Judith
Herrera, who presided over the trial, invited jurors to meet with her in
chambers following the verdict and told them attorneys for the prosecution
and the defense would be anxious to hear about their
deliberative process. “I think that some jurors saw that John’s life has
value,” said Theresa “Teri” Duncan, who was appointed to represent McCluskey
within days of the murders. For example, she said witnesses told about what a
great friend he was when he was young and about his life in prison in
Pennsylvania. McCluskey entered that system in his mid-20s and remained until
he was older than 40, during which he was a prized, hard worker and an inmate
who counseled others to avoid the kind of trouble that can erupt in that
environment. She said other witnesses who knew McCluskey in Arizona “talked
about how respectful he was to older people.” Among them was Sissy Honea, who
told the jury about McCluskey sending her a card during the trial to offer
his condolences when her life partner died. “That meant something to her,”
Duncan said. “She brought John’s capacity for kindness up to the present.
That was one of the more compelling things that the evidence showed for the
right juror.” Gary Haas’ younger sister Linda Rook, reached by phone in
Oklahoma following the verdict, said she was in a state of shock after her
uncle – one of several family members who attended trial religiously – called
to tell her about it. “I’m just going to have to learn to accept it some
way,” Rook said. “He (McCluskey) already had a life sentence, so he’s
essentially getting nothing for what he did to my brother and sister-in-law.”
Rook brought her mother, Vivian Haas, to Albuquerque in August to hear
testimony in the guilt-innocence part of the trial. That testimony began with
the detailed escape planning from the northern Arizona privately operated
facility; the escape itself and subsequent hijacking of two truckers in
northern Arizona; the fugitive trio’s acquisition of another vehicle before
carjacking the Haases, mostly to get their roomy and air conditioned travel
trailer. Codefendants Province and Welch, who have been promised a prison version
of the witness protection program, testified about what they called
McCluskey’s unexpected, unnecessary and infuriating shooting of the Haases
and about their post-escape wanderings to Wyoming and other parts. In a
second phase, prosecutors proved the statutory factors required for a death
verdict. And in a final, “selection” phase, prosecutors argued that McCluskey
was such a danger that he couldn’t be safely housed even in a federal prison
and that he deserved to die for killing a special couple. The defense brought
in mitigation witnesses about McCluskey’s life and social history. Despite
the outcome, Rook said she was appreciative of the jury’s work and that of
prosecutors who’ve spent over two years on the case. The official word,
however, from acting U.S. Attorney Steve Yarbrough was not disappointment.
“The jury decided not to seek death but they found him guilty of every count
charged,” Yarbrough said. “The process played out the way it was supposed
to.” Asked if the millions of dollars spent on a death penalty prosecution was worth it, Yarbrough said that wasn’t his call. “It
isn’t my decision. Congress passed the law and the president signed it,” he
said. “It’s ultimately the call of the (U.S.) Attorney General, who looks at
it in terms of other cases across the U.S.” in pursuit of uniformity. The
extensive jury verdict form asks each juror to certify that race, color,
religious beliefs, national origin or gender of the defendant or victim was
not a factor involved in reaching their decision. Assistant U.S. Attorneys
Greg Fouratt and Linda Mott and Department of Justice Attorney Michael Warbel
began selecting a jury in July with Duncan, lead attorney Michael Burt of San
Francisco and Ruidoso attorney Gary Mitchell. All of them were paid for by the
government. The jury, plus four alternates, was drawn from throughout the
state and included some from southern New Mexico, three from northern New
Mexico and others from the Albuquerque and Rio Rancho area. There were three
men and nine women. McCluskey, who is being held at the Torrance County
Detention Facility, is expected to remain there until he is formally
sentenced. No date has been set. Mitchell said the defense team understands
how tragic the event was for the victim’s family, and offered condolences to
them. Duncan said she believes the McCluskey verdict “is consistent with New
Mexico attitudes toward the death penalty. “We’re just a state that values
life, and the verdict shows that we continue to show our commitment to life,”
she said.

October 7, 2013 Albuqurque Journal
News

A federal jury will spend at least
another month in court after finding John Charles McCluskey committed crimes
with which he was charged after escaping from an Arizona prison, foremost
among them the murders of an Oklahoma couple that could bring the death
penalty. McCluskey, who looks pale, gaunt and older than his 48 years – a far
cry from the tall, beefy convict shown in photos at trial –
remained calm as the verdict was read. U.S. District Judge Judith Herrera
read the verdict out loud – guilty of a total of 20 counts – in a courtroom
packed with FBI agents, including the special agent in charge, other law
enforcement officials, news media and the family of the victims. The charges
stem from the Aug. 2, 2010, carjacking of Oklahoma couple Gary and Linda Haas
from a rest stop on Interstate 40 in New Mexico and their subsequent murders
in Guadalupe County. After he and his wife were kidnapped at gunpoint for the
truck and trailer that would allow McCluskey and his co-defendants to
continue on the lam, Gary Haas was forced to drive into a rural area north of
I-40 in Guadalupe County and pull over. The couple was ordered into the
camper/trailer, and both were shot. The trailer was subsequently torched,
with the bodies inside, using liquor the couple had brought for their annual
Colorado camping vacation. McCluskey and co-defendants Casslyn Welch, his
girlfriend and cousin, and Tracy Province, a fellow escapee from the state
contract prison in Kingman, Ariz., were charged with conspiracy to commit
carjacking, carjacking resulting in death, tampering with a witness,
conspiracy to interfere with commerce and gun-related charges. Gary Haas’
younger sister, Linda Rook, said after the verdict that it was “good news for
what we wanted” – the death penalty. “It’s still very emotional,” she said.
The family wrote prosecutors, including U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, in
support of seeking the death penalty. The penalty is to be decided by the
jury in a separate phase of trial that has been projected to last even longer
than the first phase, which began Aug. 19. Rook, her mother, Vivian Haas, and
other family members have occupied the front row of the courtroom throughout
the trial. Since the murders of Gary and Linda, they have endured major
health issues, Oklahoma storms, and other deaths in the family. The jurors,
who were drawn from all over the state, deliberated for a day on Thursday,
took Friday off and resumed deliberations on Monday. By 3 p.m., they had
reached a verdict. On the first day of deliberations, jurors asked to again
see the video interview of Casslyn Welch with an FBI agent in which she
revels in the prison escape that she was instrumental in planning and
carrying out, and in which she refers to the victims as “Ma and Pa Kettle”
and “Okies.” The court refused and instructed them that they had all the
evidence. The upcoming penalty phase could begin next week. During that
phase, which is to be subdivided into two parts, prosecutors will present
aggravating factors under the federal death penalty statute, and the defense
will present mitigating factors weighing against it. Those factors may
include mental health evidence. Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Fouratt reminded
the judge that within 24 hours of conviction on a death-eligible charge, the
defense must file a document saying whether attorneys plan to use mental
health evidence during the penalty phase. The defense already has given
notice of its plans to use such evidence, but could alter course. The defense
team, led by Michael Burt of San Francisco, gave notice in March of plans to
use expert evidence relating to a mental disease or defect. The notice said a
forensic neuropsychologist had conducted more than two dozen tests on
McCluskey and was about to conduct magnetic resonance imaging and other kinds
of electronic imaging tests. Province and Welch, who entered guilty pleas
that avoided a potential death penalty prosecution for them,
and who and testified at McCluskey’s trial in the guilt/innocence phase, may
be recalled for the penalty phase. They face up to life in prison, but
neither has been sentenced. Welch and Province were the star witnesses in the
guilt/innocence phase of the trial, each testifying for well over a day. Both
were firm in insisting it was McCluskey who shot the Haases, giving no
warning of his plans before shots rang out, despite a defense assault on
their credibility. Members of the Haas family also are expected to testify.
“We actually have subpoenas,” Linda Rook said

Aug 22, 2013 The Washington Post

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The pile of
ash and twisted metal looked like what was left of a travel trailer, but a
New Mexico sheriff testified Wednesday he had no idea when he first saw the
crime scene that the case was a homicide that investigators would later link
to two Arizona fugitives and their accomplice. “What was really bad was
within about a 100-foot radius of the burned out frame, the trees were
completely charred, even parts of the corrals,” Guadalupe County Sheriff
Michael Lucero told jurors. “It was a mess.” The sheriff was among several
law enforcement agents who took the stand in the capital murder trial of John
McCluskey, the last of three defendants to be tried on federal carjacking and
murder charges in the 2010 deaths of Gary and Linda Haas of Tecumseh, Okla.
The retired couple, on their way to an annual camping trip in Colorado, had
been targeted for their pickup truck and travel trailer after they stopped at
a rest area near the Texas-New Mexico state line on Aug. 2, 2010. Prosecutors
say the couple was forced at gunpoint to drive west along Interstate 40
before being ordered to pull onto a lonely two-lane road. They were shot and
then the trailer was taken to a remote ranch in eastern New Mexico, where it
was unhitched and burned. Prosecutor Greg Fouratt showed jurors photographs
of everything from the trailer to the dirt road that led to the ranch. He
also played clips from surveillance video taken from a convenience store near
a highway exit that showed the truck and trailer headed toward the ranch that
afternoon. Less than 40 minutes later, the video shows the truck heading back
toward the interstate with no trailer. A ranch hand testified he discovered
the trailer along with three small dogs. Two of the pets were rounded up and
their tags led the sheriff to the Haases’ daughter. Lucero testified that he
thought he was dealing with a kidnapping. The case changed when James
Butterfield, a criminal investigator with New Mexico State Police, got closer
to the wreckage. “When I arrived at the wheels of the trailer, I started
looking down straight in front of me. Through my training and experience, I
recognized a skull and a femur bone,” he testified. Other agents testified
about finding the Haases stolen truck hours away in Albuquerque. It was
unlocked, the keys were in one cup holder and a bottle of brake fluid was in
another. Prosecutors planned to call more investigators to the stand
Wednesday afternoon. McCluskey’s accomplices — his cousin and fiance Casslyn
Welch and fellow inmate Tracy Province — are expected to testify next week.
Both face life sentences after pleading guilty last year to charges stemming
from the Haases’ deaths.

August 6, 2013 chron.com

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Federal
prosecutors expect to seat a jury this week in the case of an Arizona inmate
who escaped from prison and is accused of killing a retired couple who was
traveling through New Mexico. Jury selection is in its third week for John
McCluskey. He's the last defendant to face federal carjacking and murder charges
in the 2010 deaths of Gary and Linda Haas of Tecumseh, Okla. The Haases were
headed to Colorado for an annual camping trip when they were targeted for
their truck and travel trailer. So far, prosecutors and defense attorneys
have retained 57 prospective jurors for the panel. They are expected to
whittle that pool to the final 12 jurors Thursday. Opening statements are
scheduled for Aug. 19. Prosecutors have said the trial could last four
months.

07/31/2013 connectamarillo.com

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Jury
selection is in its second week for an Arizona inmate who escaped from prison
and is accused of killing a retired couple who was traveling through New
Mexico. John McCluskey is the last defendant to face federal carjacking and
murder charges in the deaths of Gary and Linda Haas of Tecumseh, Okla. The
Haases were headed to Colorado for an annual camping trip when they were
targeted for their truck and travel trailer. Lawyers questioned 60
prospective jurors in the first week and retained 25. Some were dismissed
because of their firm views either for or against the death penalty. Others
had hardships that would prevent them from serving in a trial that could last
up to four months. Jury selection is expected to wrap up by Aug. 9.

Jul 26, 2013 abqjournal.com

An Arizona prison escapee accused
of murdering a vacationing retired couple in 2010 in a crime that shocked the
state and sparked a nationwide manhunt appeared in an Albuquerque courtroom
Monday at the start of his federal capital trial. John Charles McCluskey is
charged with kidnapping Gary and Linda Haas of Tecumseh, Okla., and murdering
them north of Santa Rosa on Aug. 2, 2010. The Haases were en route to a
Colorado vacation and had stopped in their pickup and camper at a rest area
outside Santa Rosa when they were carjacked, according to prosecutors.
Attorneys estimate the trial will take months from start to finish,
concluding just before Thanksgiving. Testifying will be McCluskey’s
girlfriend and cousin, Casslyn Mae Welch, and fellow escapee Tracy Allen
Province. Both Province and Welch, who helped the two men in their escape,
have entered guilty pleas. McCluskey has appeared at previous hearings in the
case shackled and wearing an orange jumpsuit, but at trial Monday, he wore a
dark suit and tie. By late afternoon Monday, there were five potential
jurors, and a long way to go. It will take a pool of 64 qualified, potential
jurors from which to pick a jury of 12. Six alternates are also to be
selected before testimony begins in about a month. Prospective jurors are
called in groups of 12 each day for questioning, first as a group by U.S.
District Judge Judith Herrera and attorneys on topics like pre-trial
publicity, then individually in the courtroom to decide if the juror can be
fair to both sides. Each side has about 10 minutes to ask general questions
or to further probe the questionnaire of almost 100 questions the federal
court jury division sent to 1,800 possible jurors statewide six months ago.
That list was winnowed to some 300 after factors like vacations, age,
disability and the like eliminated those unable to spend months hearing the
case. The federal capital trial procedure requires a jury to make a finding
of guilt in the first trial phase. If that occurs, the penalty phase begins.
The prosecution presents aggravating factors that it believes weigh in favor
of a death sentence – prior convictions, for instance – and the jury must
find that those factors also have been proved. Then the defense presents
“mitigating” factors that weigh in favor of life in prison with no
possibility of release. Those may include mercy. A decision to impose the
death penalty must be unanimous. According to prosecutors, the Haases and
their three dogs were carjacked and taken to a remote ranch area near
Colonias, and the couple was shot. Their trailer was burned and McCluskey and
two companions allegedly stole the pickup and a gun, left the dogs behind and
traveled to Albuquerque, where they ditched the truck. Law enforcement
officials found the pickup on North Fourth Street and found fingerpints on
the plastic covering from a roll of paper towels. McCluskey and Welch
traveled east to Arkansas and back west to Arizona before they were arrested
in a U.S. Forest Service campground in eastern Arizona on Aug. 19, 2010,
according to court documents. Prosecutors Michael Warbel of the U.S.
Department of Justice and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Greg Fouratt and Linda
Mott, and defense attorneys Michael Burt of San Francisco, Theresa Duncan of
Albuquerque and Gary Mitchell of Ruidoso took turns asking questions as jury
panelists, identified only by a number so as to preserve their anonymity,
were called out one by one. Among those who could be selected for the final
12 are a woman from a deeply Christian home in Texas
who said she grew up seeing the world in only black and white and being a
staunch believer in the death penalty. But when a youth whom she and her
husband had befriended and considered a son robbed a store and killed two
people, she persuaded him to take a plea offer that guaranteed life in prison
rather than face the death penalty. Another retained juror said he knew
Fouratt casually through service in the National Guard, and assured
questioners he could meaningfully weigh factors for and against the death
penalty, which he generally favors strongly. The process begins anew today,
and is expected to continue for another three weeks or so before the case is
ready for opening statements and testimony.

June 13, 2012 The New Mexican
The state Corrections Department could save millions by spending more on
community corrections programs and tweaking some private prison contracts,
the Legislative Finance Committee says. A recent evaluation of the
department, by the committee and the Pew Center on the States, uncovered
problems with contract management, parole planning and programs aimed at
keeping prisoners from returning. A recent committee newsletter said,
"The department could save $2 million a year by amending its contract
with the private company that runs the Hobbs prison, the review says. Even
though staffing level requirements were cut in March, the state is paying the
operator the same amount." The Hobbs prison is operated by the
Florida-based Geo Group, which also runs other prisons in Santa Rosa and
Clayton.

March 17, 2012 Albuquerque
Journal
The companies that operate private prisons where New Mexico state inmates
serve their time have racked up nearly $1.6 million in penalties for
understaffing and other contract violations since the Martinez administration
started cracking down last year. Nearly all of that was attributable to
problems at The GEO Group Inc.’s prison in Hobbs, although the company’s
Clayton prison was recently added to the penalty list. The Corrections
Corporation of America, which operates the women’s prison in Grants, also has
been fined during the past couple of months, mostly for having inmates in the
prison after their release dates. Reversing the practice of the previous
administration, Republican Gov. Susana Martinez decided to pursue the
penalties the state is entitled to impose for contract violations. “In
today’s struggling economy, the people of New Mexico deserve to know the
Corrections Department is running in a fiscally responsible manner,”
Corrections Secretary Gregg Marcantel said this week in a statement. The
department recently revived its Office of Inspector General to keep tabs on
contract compliance. Such fines are discretionary, and former Democratic Gov.
Bill Richardson’s administration gave private prisons a pass, irking
lawmakers who estimated that upwards of $18 million could have been
collected. Richardson’s corrections chief, Joe Williams – who claimed that
estimate was inflated – said that prisons already were paying substantial
overtime costs, that understaffing was largely due to factors beyond their
control, and that the facilities were safe and secure. Williams worked at
Hobbs for GEO’s predecessor company before Richardson hired him, and he
returned to GEO’s corporate offices in Boca Raton, Fla., at the end of
Richardson’s tenure. After negotiations with the Martinez administration, GEO
in January paid a $1.1 million fine for violations at the Lea County
Correctional Facility in Hobbs for the period from January through October of
2011. GEO also agreed to put another $200,000 into recruitment over the
subsequent year. GEO continued to be penalized: $158,529 for November,
$139,621 for December, $78,710 for January and $84,753 for February,
according to documents provided by the department. The February assessment
isn’t final yet, because the company has until late this month to respond to
it. The fines largely were due to vacancies in the ranks of correctional
officers and in noncustodial positions such as teachers, counselors and
treatment providers. Corrections officials have said it’s difficult for the
men’s medium security lockup at Hobbs to recruit and keep corrections
officers because it’s competing with the oil industry. An assessment of
$2,570 for understaffing in January was proposed for GEO’s Northeastern New
Mexico Detention Facility in Clayton, but the problem had been corrected by
the time the department sent a letter to the prison on Feb. 10, and no
penalty was assessed. In early March, however, the department notified the
Clayton prison that it would be fined $5,373 for February, for vacancies in
mandatory posts and for two inmates imprisoned beyond their release date.
That penalty is pending. GEO did not respond to requests from the Journal for
comment. The Corrections Corporation of America, which operates the New
Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants, was fined $11,779 for
January, and $9,974 for February – still pending – for an academic instructor
vacancy and for inmates held beyond their release dates. Inspector General
Shannon McReynolds said that occurs when the required parole plans aren’t
developed in a timely way.

November 20, 2011 Albuquerque
Journal
Joe Williams, who was the corrections secretary in the Richardson
administration, is back at work at the Florida-based private prison company
that he spared from paying millions of dollars in penalties for contract
violations. Williams is again employed by The GEO Group Inc., an
international firm he worked for before he was appointed by Gov. Bill
Richardson to head the New Mexico prison system. In New Mexico, GEO operates
prisons in Hobbs, Clayton and Santa Rosa that house inmates under contract
with the state Corrections Department. Williams came under scrutiny from New
Mexico legislators last year for his decision not to fine GEO and another
private prison operator for understaffing. A report by the Legislative
Finance Committee at the time said there were potentially millions of dollars
to be collected. The administration of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, who
took office in January, has decided to collect some penalties for this year.
Corrections Secretary Gregg Marcantel said last week that GEO has agreed to
pay $1.1 million for understaffing at the Hobbs prison during 2011 and to put
another $200,000 into recruitment. The fine will be deducted from what the
state pays the company to run the private prison. Williams headed the
Corrections Department for eight years, through 2010, under Richardson.
Before his appointment, he worked for GEO’s predecessor, Wackenhut Corrections
Corp., as warden of the Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs. Wackenhut
was renamed The GEO Group in 2003. GEO was a contributor to Richardson. It
reported giving $10,000 in 2004 to Moving America Forward, a Richardson
political committee. The company also pumped at least $43,750 into
Richardson’s 2006 gubernatorial re-election bid, according to campaign
finance data compiled by the National Institute on Money in State Politics.
And GEO officials and employees gave at least $10,750 in 2007 for Richardson’s
2008 presidential campaign, according to data from the Center for Responsive
Politics. Richardson, a Democrat, has consistently maintained that there was
no connection between contributions to his political committees and what
happened in state government. Williams is working out of GEO’s Boca Raton,
Fla., headquarters, according to a listing of 2011 associate members of the
Association of State Correctional Administrators. A recent GEO publication
identified him as the company’s director of operations for U.S. corrections.
A GEO spokesman last week refused to confirm Williams’ employment or title or
provide other information. Pablo Paez said in an email that the company’s
policy is to not comment on employment matters. Williams could not be reached
for comment. Private prison contracts include required staffing patterns and
allow for penalties under certain circumstances — for example, if more than
10 percent of correctional officer positions remain vacant for more than 30
days. The Corrections Department headed by Williams “has chosen not (to)
enforce financial penalties for staffing patterns at the private prisons,
which is within the secretary’s discretion per the contract,” the Legislative
Finance Committee staff said in a September 2010 memo. Based on limited
monitoring information from the Corrections Department — and assuming those
vacancy trends existed for the previous four budget years — the LFC staff
estimated that about $18.6 million could have been collected “if the
department had chosen to enforce the contract.” Williams defended his
position in a letter to the interim Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee
two months later. He called the $18.6 million calculation “highly inflated”
and said it didn’t take into account the substantial overtime and other costs
paid by the prisons. He said Corrections Corporation of America, which runs
the women’s prison in Grants, could have been subject to vacancy penalties of
about $530,000 for the previous four years but had paid $2.7 million in overtime
during that period. GEO, he said, could have been subject to $4.3 million in
penalties for its three men’s prisons over the four years, but it paid $3.6
million in overtime to cover vacancies and another $1.5 million on
uncompensated inmate transportation. The Corrections Department “had no
legitimate basis for collecting any staffing penalties from GEO” during the
four-year period, Williams wrote. Williams also said that it was difficult to
recruit employees in the rural areas where the prisons are located and that
the Hobbs facility additionally “has to compete with the oil industry.”
“Because the private prisons are operating safely and securely, I have chosen
to exercise my executive power, as have all secretaries before me, not to
penalize the private prisons for staff vacancies caused by factors largely
beyond their or anyone else’s control,” Williams wrote in the November
letter. Williams had solicited GEO’s help with making his case a few months
earlier, urging company officials in an August letter to give him staffing
data as well as information about how much GEO paid in taxes and inmate
transportation and how much it had contributed to communities and schools.
“This information could help me defend my position” to lawmakers, Williams
wrote. Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque, an advisory member of the interim
Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, said it was never clear to him why
Williams didn’t impose penalties. But he criticized the movement of
employees, such as Williams, from the private sector to the public sector,
then back again, as a “built-in conflict of interest” that should be stopped.
“The people who go back and forth come out really well, but the taxpayers are
the ones who aren’t well-served,” McSorley said. Marcantel said the department
plans to look at all vendors, including CCA, to ensure compliance with
contracts.

November 14, 2011 Santa Fe New
Mexican
A Florida company will pay New Mexico $1.1 million in penalties for not
adequately staffing a private prison it operates in Hobbs, a state official
said. GEO Group, which manages three of New Mexico's four private prisons,
agreed to pay the settlement last week following a meeting between the
corrections agency and the company's top management, Corrections Secretary
Gregg Marcantel said Monday. "They've agreed on it," Marcantel said
of GEO. "It's a very fair way of doing it. They are not completely
happy. It needed to be done." Officials at GEO could not be reached for
comment Monday night. GEO will pay the $1.1 million over several months, the
corrections secretary said. In addition, GEO has agreed to spend $200,000
over the next calendar year to recruit new correctional officers for the
Hobbs facility. By contract, New Mexico can penalize The GEO Group and
Corrections Corp. of America, the two firms that operate the private
facilities, when staffing vacancies are at 10 percent or more for 30
consecutive days. The settlement represents the first time in years —
possibly ever — that New Mexico has penalized the out-of-state, for-profit
companies for not adequately staffing the facilities they operate. The issue
has come up in the past, but state officials said New Mexico had never levied
penalties for understaffing issues. The question surfaced in 2010 when state
lawmakers were struggling to find ways to close a yawning state budget gap.
At the time, the Legislature's budget arm, the Legislative Finance Committee,
estimated Gov. Bill Richardson's administration had skipped $18 million in
penalties by not assessing penalties against the two firms for inadequate
prison staffing levels. The $1.1 million covers understaffing by GEO at the
Hobbs facility for only this year and was reached after the state corrections
agency and GEO spent most of the summer disputing each other's methodology for
computing how much GEO should be penalized, state documents show. Marcantel
said he could not retroactively penalize the companies for previous years,
but could only go back to the first day of Gov. Susana Martinez's tenure,
Jan. 1. According to state records, of the four privately operated prisons,
Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs has struggled
the most to keep correctional officers on the job. The facility's vacancy
rate hovered above 20 percent for 12 of the 14 months for which there was
data — between January 2010 and March of this year. That includes seven
consecutive months — September 2010 through March 2011 — when the vacancy
rate was 25.24 percent, records showed. Going forward, the state will check
monthly to ensure the four privately operated prisons are adequately staffed,
Marcantel said. "Our new approach, it's not going to be waiting,"
Marcantel said. "That doesn't motivate" the companies to keep
staffing levels where they need to be, he added. GEO, headquartered in Boca
Raton, Fla., recently reported $1.2 billion in earnings and $58.8 million in
profit through the first nine months of this year, according to a Nov. 2
release by the company.

April 25, 2011 The New Mexican
The two for-profit firms that run four of New Mexico's 10 prisons often
struggle to keep correctional officer jobs filled, state records show. One in
five such jobs at a Hobbs facility was vacant for much of the past 15 months,
while the prison in Santa Rosa reported a vacancy rate of around 12.5 percent
over the same period, according to the records. By contract, New Mexico can
penalize The GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America, the two firms
that operate the facilities, when staffing vacancies are at 10 percent or
more for 30 consecutive days. It's a threshold that appears to have been
crossed multiple times at all four prisons since January 2010. The vacancy
rate at Hobbs topped the 10-percent threshold in each of the 14 months for
which data was available between January 2010 and March of this year. Meanwhile,
the 10-percent threshold was topped nine times over that period at Santa Rosa
and six times at a Clayton facility. Like the Hobbs facility, both are run by
GEO. A CCA-operated prison in Grants topped the 10 percent rate four times
over the same period. Whether to penalize the out-of-state, for-profit firms
is an issue that has come up before. The question surfaced last year when
state lawmakers were struggling to find ways to close a yawning state budget
gap. At the time, the Legislature's budget arm, the Legislative Finance
Committee, estimated Gov. Bill Richardson's administration had skipped $18
million in penalties against the two firms. One powerful lawmaker said Monday
the issue is still important and the Legislature shouldn't lose sight of it. "We'd
like to follow up and perhaps do a performance group
review on the private prison operators to see whether they are making
excessive profits," Rep. Luciano "Lucky" Varela, D-Santa Fe,
said of the Legislative Finance Committee. Varela, the committee chairman,
said he can accept a reasonable return for the prison operators, but high
vacancy rates at prisons operated by the firms raise questions about how
state dollars are being spent to operate the facilities. Determining whether
the companies should be penalized for high vacancy rates is an involved
process, a Corrections Department spokesman said. GEO and CCA might have
asked corrections officers already on the job to work overtime to address the
staffing situation. If they did, the department "cannot in good faith
consider that position to be vacant," spokesman Shannon McReynolds wrote
in an email. But the state doesn't know whether that happened. That would
require going through shift rosters at each privately operated facility,
McReynolds said in a follow-up phone interview. "That will take a
decision from the administration," McReynolds said, referring to new
Corrections Secretary Lupe Martinez. "We do not have specifics on
overtime. Every once in awhile we'll hear a particular facility has spent a lot
on overtime." Because of sporadic record-keeping at the facilities GEO
and CCA operate, the state corrections agency couldn't verify last year how
often the two firms violated the vacancy-rate provision in their contracts,
if at all. As a result, the agency couldn't corroborate or refute the
Legislative Finance Committee's estimate of uncollected penalties. Joe
Williams, then-corrections secretary, decided not to pursue penalizing the
two companies, saying GEO and CCA were making a good-faith effort to keep the
facilities staffed. The contracts give the corrections secretary discretion
to waive the penalties. If Lupe Martinez, the new corrections secretary,
decides to collect penalties, it would be only for January 2011 and onward,
McReynolds said. Gov. Susana Martinez took power in January and soon
afterward appointed Lupe Martinez, no relation, as her corrections secretary.
According to state records, of the four privately operated prisons, Lea
County Correctional Facility in Hobbs has struggled
the most to keep correctional officers on the job. The facility's vacancy
rate hovered above 20 percent for 12 of the 14 months for which there was
data between January 2010 and March of this year. That includes seven
consecutive months — September 2010 through March — when the vacancy rate was
25.24 percent, records show. GEO-run Guadalupe County Correctional Facility
in Santa Rosa reported a 16.93 percent vacancy rate last July, a high point.
The vacancy rate has hovered below 10 percent in five of the last seven
months. Another GEO-run facility, the Northeast New Mexico Correctional
Facility in Clayton, showed a similar trend, reporting vacancy rates higher
than 10 percent for six of the seven months for which data was available
between January and August 2010. Data for July 2010 was missing. As in Santa
Rosa, the Clayton facility's vacancy rate has dropped in recent months. The
state's fourth privately operated prison, CCA-run New Mexico Women's
Correctional Facility in Grants, reported a vacancy rate above 10 percent
four times from January 2010 to July 2010, with a 16.47 percent vacancy rate
reported in July. The state corrections agency did not have data for August
2010 to March 2011.

September 21, 2010 New Mexico
Independent
Corrections Secretary Joe Williams‘ prior employment
at one of two private prison operators he chose not to fine despite repeated
contract violations casts a cloud over his decision, a powerful state senator
says. For years Williams, who worked as a warden for GEO Group before joining
Gov. Bill Richardson’s cabinet, has not collected penalties against his old
employer and Corrections Corp. of America (CCA) despite increasing evidence
that both firms regularly violated a contract rule requiring certain staffing
levels at the four facilities they operate. Williams told The Independent in
a previous interview that his decision was based on the good job the two
companies had done operating prisons in Hobbs, Grants, Santa Rosa and
Clayton. He added that the firms’ contracts give him discretion to penalize
or not. But Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, chairman of the Senate Finance
Committee, told The Independent on Friday that Williams’ previous employment
with GEO casts suspicion over his decision and creates questions of
appearance. “It’s a real cloud on his career,” Smith said of Williams. “That
type of generosity will make certain that he is hired quickly.” Williams will
likely be out of a job when New Mexico’s new governor takes over in
January—cabinet secretaries are typically replaced when a state’s new chief
executive takes over. Williams acknowledged as much in a recent interview
with The Independent. “They fire guys like me,” Williams quipped. Asked
Friday to respond to Smith’s remarks, a spokeswoman for Williams instead sent
an e-mail saying: “Last week Secretary Williams explained his position to you
regarding this matter. He has not changed his position.” Potential penalties
never assessed -- State records suggest that GEO and CCA might have regularly
triggered staffing-level penalties. By contract, New Mexico can levy
penalties against GEO and CCA when staffing vacancies at their facilities
stay at 10 percent or more for 30-consecutive days. State records show that
staffing levels at three of the four facilities operated by GEO and CCA hovered
above 10 percent for much of the last fiscal year. At the fourth facility,
the vacancy rate was above the 10 percent trigger in six of the 13 months the
state records covered. One estimate by the Legislature’s budget arm, the
Legislative Finance Committee (LFC), has put at $18 million the potential
penalties the state has not collected as a result of Williams’ decision. “If
the facilities’ operational quality is not hampered due to high vacancy
rates, then the department may be paying for staff that isn’t needed,” LFC
staff noted in a 14-page report. Inadequate record-keeping makes dollar
amount elusive -- But a spokeswoman for the New Mexico Corrections Department
said the agency can’t verify how much in potential penalties the state has
given up because of sporadic record-keeping at the four facilities the two
firms operate. “We do not have an estimate of how much in penalties could
have been assessed–because we do not have adequate records to demonstrate how
long some correctional officer positions remained vacant,” corrections
spokeswoman Tia Bland told The Independent. The corrections agency has a
bureau dedicated to making sure the private prison operators meet contractual
obligations, but the inadequate record keeping — and the agency’s inability
to account for such data — suggests that detailed tracking of staffing levels
was not an agency priority. The Legislative Finance Committee has directed
the agency to immediately start collecting such information, which it is
doing, Bland said. Meanwhile the corrections agency has ordered GEO and CCA
to provide past staffing data to get a sense of how often the 10 percent rule
was violated and how much in penalties the state forgave. Some of the data
has come in, Bland said in an e-mail. Williams’ ‘unilateral’ decision angers
state lawmakers -- Some state legislators are angered by the Corrections
Department’s inability to say how much the state never collected in potential
penalties, especially given the state’s dismal financial situation. Leaner
state agencies, cut in previous years, are again imposing cost-saving
measures because state revenues aren’t keeping pace with state spending.
Smith added to that refrain last week. “It’s real bothersome to me that we’re
scratching for money and he unilaterally makes this decision,” Smith said of
Williams. “That is spending taxpayer money recklessly. He is not looking out
for the best interest of New Mexico.”

September 15, 2010 New Mexico
Independent
Over the past four years New Mexico has potentially given up more than $18
million in never-assessed penalties despite repeated contractual violations
by two private prison operators, a new legislative report says. By contract
New Mexico can levy penalties against GEO Group and Corrections Corp. of
America (CCA) when staffing vacancies at the facilities they manage in Hobbs,
Grants, Clayton and Santa Rosa stay at 10 percent or more for 30-consecutive
days. That penalty has been triggered regularly, state records show and the
new report by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) confirms. Staffing
levels at three of the four privately operated facilities hovered above 10
percent for much of last year, state records show. And at the fourth
facility, the vacancy rate was above the 10 percent trigger in six of the 13
months the state records covered. The LFC report, issued last week, reached
the $18 million figure after finding that the two firms had triggered $5
million in penalties last year because their facilities had higher vacancy
rates than allowed by contract. The LFC then assumed similar vacancy trends
at three of the facilities for the four years previous, and two years
previous at the fourth facility, which has only been open for two years. The
state’s corrections secretary, Joe Williams, has defended not collecting the
penalties, saying the state’s contracts with the two firms gave him
discretion to fine the two companies and he chose not to. Corrections agency
doesn’t track vacancies at private prisons . But the
11-page LFC report found that Williams’ agency never regularly tracked
vacancy rates at the four facilities, meaning it did not even know how much
the state was forgoing in money by not penalizing the two firms. “NMCD does
not regularly compile vacancy rates, contractor staff pay rates, contractor
vacancy savings or review potential penalty amount in its central office, but
should do so immediately,” the report said. The report also noted that the
state appeared to have been spending “large sums of contract funding on
vacant private prison staff positions.” Williams, who worked for GEO as a
warden prior to becoming the state’s corrections secretary, did not have a
response to the legislative report Monday other than a one-sentence
statement: “We will be reviewing the report and we will present our response
to the LFC.” While the potential penalties to the two firms amounted to more
than $18 million, the savings to the two firms by not fully staffing their
facilities was larger, the LFC report noted. The $18 million in potential
penalties equals the salaries the companies did not pay, the report said. Add
in benefits that also were never paid by the two firms, and the amount saved
is more than $22 million, the LFC report said. Representatives of both firms
could not reached for comment Monday. Williams has
subsequently asked GEO, which manages three of the four facilities, to
“perform this analysis and provide other information to ‘defend my position’
of not enforcing contract penalties,” the report noted. But the LFC report
said Williams and his agency should have performed this task all along “to
assist in decision making” about whether to penalize the companies or, if
not, provide a “rationale for why not to enforce agreed upon contractual
provisions.” Williams’ decision not to collect the penalties from the two firms
has put him on a collision course with state lawmakers, some of whom are
questioning the action. Williams acknowledged to The Independent two weeks
ago that he hadn’t penalized the two companies because, he said, they were
doing an outstanding job managing the four facilities. The issue of the
uncollected penalties comes at a time when state government is scrounging for
every dollar because of hard economic times. The building controversy also
threatens to stir up a long-simmering debate over New Mexico’s decision years
ago to pay private firms to operate several of its correctional facilities.
Critics have long vilified the agreements as a giveaway to private,
out-of-state companies while some state lawmakers have quietly wondered if
the companies are making out-sized profits.

September 10, 2010 New Mexico
Independent
The state appears to have been within its rights last year to repeatedly
penalize two private prison operators for letting their vacancy rates hover
above a 10 percent trigger in their contracts, state records show. By
contract New Mexico can levy penalties against the two firms – GEO Group and
Corrections Corp. of America (CCA) — when staffing vacancies at the
facilities they manage in Hobbs, Grants, Clayton and Santa Rosa stay at 10
percent or more for 30-consecutive days. Staffing levels at three of the four
privately operated facilities hovered above 10 percent for much of last year,
state records show. As for the fourth facility, the vacancy rate was above
the 10 percent trigger in six of the 13 months the state records covered.
Corrections Secretary Joe Williams, who worked for GEO before Gov. Bill
Richardson tapped him as corrections secretary, told The Independent last
week the state had never penalized GEO or CCA despite vacancy rates
repeatedly topping the 10 percent trigger. He had the discretion to decide
whether to penalize the firms or not, and he had decided against it, Williams
said. The firms were doing a good job of managing the prisons, he added. Some
state lawmakers are wondering why Williams never assessed the penalties. Some
believe the never-assessed penalties could amount to millions of dollars.
State records show that vacancies at GEO-operated Guadalupe County
Correctional Facility in Santa Rosa were above the 10 percent threshold in 11
of the13 months between July 2009 to July 2010; 10 of the 13 months at the
GEO-run Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs; and nine of the 13 months
at the CCA-operated New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants. The
vacancy rate at the GEO-run Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility
eclipsed the 10 percent rate in six of the 13 months covered by the time
period shown in the records, state records show. The agency on Friday
reiterated Williams’ discretion in deciding whether to penalize the companies
or not. “The contract clauses that deal with vacancy rates gives sole
discretion to NMCD so that they may penalize the private prisons,” read an
e-mail to The Independent after we had sent questions related to the vacancy
rates from July 2009 to July 2010. “The penalties are not mandatory and are
decided by the department,” the e-mail continued. “Secretary Williams will be
presenting the reasons to why he has not penalized the vendors to the
Legislative Finance Committee in an upcoming hearing. The department welcomes
you to attend the committee hearing.”

September 7, 2010 New Mexico
Independent
Think Progress, the blog of the left-leaning Center for American Progress
Action Fund, has picked up on NMI’s story about New Mexico Corrections
Secretary Joe Williams not penalizing two private prison operators despite
repeated contract obligations. But Think Progress added a bit of information
we forgot to mention: that Williams worked for GEO, one of the two firms that
wasn’t penalized, prior to becoming the state’s corrections secretary.
Williams has not been secret about the affiliation. He talks freely on the
corrections department’s website about the years he spent with GEO as warden
of the Lea County Correctional Facility, which the firm operates, before Gov.
Bill Richardson tapped him as corrections secretary. Here’s an excerpt from
Williams biography on the agency’s website. In 1999, four years before
becoming secretary of corrections, Joe accepted one of the more difficult
challenges of his career. The Geo Group, Inc. (formerly known as Wackenhut)
hired Joe as the warden for the Lea County Correctional Facility, and charged
him with turning around the troubled prison in Hobbs, New Mexico. The
facility eventually became a flagship prison. Agreeing to serve as its warden
proved to be the right move, both professionally and personally. In fact, Joe
liked the city of Hobbs so much, he named his
beloved basset hound Sir Hobbs. The question now is whether Williams’
affiliation will be an issue among state lawmakers who are wondering why the
corrections secretary decided against penalizing the two private prison
operators — GEO and Corrections Corp. of America — possibly costing the state
millions of dollars.

September 2, 2010 New Mexico
Independent
The New Mexico Corrections Department has not collected penalties from two
private prison operators despite repeated contract violations, costing the
state potentially millions of dollars in uncollected fines, state officials
have told The Independent. That has put New Mexico Corrections Secretary Joe
Williams on a collision course with state lawmakers, some of whom are
questioning Williams’ decision not to collect penalties from GEO Group and
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). The companies have repeatedly
violated a contractual obligation to keep certain staffing levels at the
prisons they operate. The two for-profit businesses operate four correctional
facilities for the state in Hobbs, Grants, Clayton and Santa Rosa. Williams
sees no problems due to vacancy rate -- Williams acknowledged that the
vacancy rates at the prisons GEO and CCA operate often are higher than their
contracts allow, but he decided against punishing the firms because the
prisons they manage “are outstanding,” he said. “They are not having escapes;
there are no substantial problems. If there were a problem I would be down
there penalizing them,” he said. GEO and CCA operate four of the state’s
prisons, while the state of New Mexico operates the remaining six prison
facilities. It is also unclear where the disagreement is headed, and what
action, if any, state lawmakers might take during this upcoming 2011
legislative session. In addition to the quality of the privately operated
prison, Williams said he rejected fining the companies because most of the
prisons they operate are in rural areas or small towns, where recruiting and
retaining correctional officers and other staff is
difficult. Working as a correctional officer is not for everyone and it’s
best to only recruit top-notch people, Williams added. “I would rather run a
prison with 10 quality correctional officers than a bunch of bad apples
introducing contraband,” Williams said. “I would rather they be in a penalty
phase than they have to meet a contractual obligation.” “The contract does
not say I shall do it. The contract says I can do it,” Williams told The
Independent on Wednesday, explaining why he never penalized the two firms for
the contract violations. State lawmakers want to know dollar amounts -- So
far, there is no agreed-upon amount on how much money New Mexico has given up
in uncollected penalties from GEO and CCA. Asked if his agency had an
estimate, Williams said, “We don’t know. That is what we are trying to
investigate right now. I’m sure you’ll have an LFC number, a private prison
number and our number.” The situation has irked some state lawmakers who
predict the situation over the uncollected penalties is finally coming to a
head, especially with New Mexico facing economic difficulties. Sen. Cisco McSorley,
D-Albuquerque, wondered aloud Wednesday “how much money New Mexico taxpayers
had lost” due to Williams’ decision. Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, meanwhile,
said a report from the Legislature’s budget arm, the Legislative Finance
Committee (LFC), due out soon would place an estimated dollar amount of the
never-assessed penalties. “I think we need to see the magnitude of the
payments that haven’t been made,” Wirth said. “If we are talking about
millions of dollars, then absolutely I am concerned about it fiscally and
policy-wise. I can assure you that the private operators wouldn’t stand idly
by if the state wasn’t meeting its contractual obligations.” Wirth added that
public safety is a concern because staffing shortages mean fewer correctional
officers to guard inmates. Representatives of GEO and CCA could not be
reached Wednesday. Staffing shortages trigger penalties -- The issue of the
uncollected penalties comes at a time when state government is scrounging for
every dollar because of hard economic times. The building controversy also
threatens to stir up a long-simmering debate over New Mexico’s decision years
ago to pay private firms to operate several of its correctional facilities.
Critics have long vilified the agreements as a giveaway to private,
out-of-state companies while some state lawmakers have quietly wondered if
the companies are making out-sized profits. Williams defended GEO and CCA on
Wednesday, saying they deserved to make a profit since they’re for-profit
businesses. He also questioned the wisdom of trying “to balance the
corrections budget through penalties.” The corrections department has
suffered $10 million in budget cuts over the past two years. Williams
acknowledged that over the years GEO and CCA each could have faced repeated penalties
as called for in their contracts. The penalties are triggered when staffing
vacancies reach 10 percent or more for 30-consecutive days at the prisons GEO
and CCA operate in Hobbs, Grants, Clayton and Santa Rosa, according to the
rules. High vacancy rates at the state’s privately operated prisons are
nothing new. As far back as 2007, state lawmakers were fuming over an LFC
report (page 24) that reported a 37 percent vacancy rate for correctional
officers at GEO-operated Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs. According
to agency figures, during July of this year, correctional officer vacancy
rates at all four of the GEO and CCA managed facilities were higher than the
10 percent allowed by contract. Of those, the Lea County facility had the
largest vacancy rate, at 22 percent. The other privately operated facilities
registered vacancy rates of 17 percent, 14 percent and 13 percent, according
to the agency. A corrections agency spokeswoman said Wednesday it would take
days to get monthly vacancy rates for each of the privately operated prisons
over the past year. Private prisons may be paying extra overtime to
compensate -- Williams also speculated that GEO and CCA were addressing the
high vacancy rates at their facilities by giving a lot of overtime to
existing employees, as has occurred at the six state-operated prison
facilities. From July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010, correctional officers at
the six state-operated prison facilities took home $7.2 million in overtime,
according to the agency. It’s unclear how much overtime corrections officers
at the four facilities operated by GEO and CCA earned during the same period.
Williams knows his decision to not assess and collect the penalties had put
him on the hot seat with state lawmakers. He fully expects to hear from
legislators in coming weeks. Asked if he were scheduled to speak before any
legislative committees, Williams replied, “I’m not scheduled to, but I expect
to get the phone call.”

December 17, 2009 The Skanner
News
In the wake of a required 60-day background investigation by local officials,
the racial discrimination tort claim by three law enforcement employees
against Clark County Corrections has expanded into a full-on lawsuit seeking
millions in damages. The lawsuit, detailing more than a dozen instances of
racist harassment that allegedly took place throughout the past 20 years, has
been brought against the county by former Clark County Sheriffs Department
Commander Clifford B. Evelyn, 58; former corrections officer Britt Easterly,
39, now with the U.S. Secret Service in Washington D.C.; and Elzy P. Edwards,
46, an unsuccessful applicant for Clark County Corrections who is now working
with the Washington Department of Corrections. Evelyn is seeking $1 million,
while Easterly and Edwards are asking $500,000 each in damages. A 20-year
veteran of the corrections department who had recently been honored for his
efforts to promote diversity in its ranks, Evelyn was fired in June after an
Internal Affairs investigation found he had violated general orders regarding
“harassment,” “courtesy” and “competency.” In the joint lawsuit against Clark
County, Edwards, who unsuccessfully applied for a job at Clark County
Corrections, alleges that the hiring process was unfair; Easterly, as well as
Evelyn, allege they were subjected to a long-standing atmosphere of racist
incidents and comments. Evelyn also alleges unfair treatment at the hands of
Clark County Corrections Chief Jail Deputy Sheriff Jackie Batties, as well as
management and staff of Wexford Health Solutions, the company contracted to
provide health care services at the jail. Documents obtained by The Skanner
News show that a former Wexford employee, who has since been convicted of
stealing cash from a co-worker’s purse, filed a complaint against Evelyn this
year that kicked off a chain of events resulting in his firing. Evelyn had
for the past two years reported on Wexford Health Sources’ failure to meet
the terms of their operations contract, including submitting a detailed
report in writing delivered to his supervisors at Clark County more than a
year before the county’s own performance audit confirmed his allegations.
Elsewhere around the nation, in July of this year million-dollar lawsuits
were filed against Wexford corporation and New Mexico state corrections
officials by incarcerated men and women alleging similar problems – even
deaths -- at Wexford-managed health programs in the state’s prison system.
Also in New Mexico, a Black dentist won a racial discrimination case against
Wexford in November of 2008 when the company was found guilty by a federal
jury of paying him a smaller wage on the basis of his race. Clark County
contracted with Pennsylvania-based Wexford Health Solutions in 2006 after
problems cropped up with their former jailhouse health care provider, Prison
Health Services. Clark County officials signed a three-year, $9 million
contract with Wexford set to expire in 2010. Its May, 2009 report, prepared
by the Institute for Law and Policy Planning, was intended as a performance audit.
Several documents obtained by The Skanner News show that reports Evelyn had
filed with superiors in 2008 about Wexford’s failure to meet the demands of
its contract were validated by Clark County’s performance audit. In a series
of memos to his superiors dated before the release of Clark County’s own
report on Wexford’s performance this past June, Evelyn had outlined specific
examples of the corporation’s failure to follow the terms of its contract
with Clark County, from lack of a written operations manual to untrained
staff, lack of medical supplies onsite and a tendency to “short” the jails’
medical services that forced Clark County to pay out more in resources to
cover the gaps. The chief finding of Clark County’s own investigation into
Wexford was that “the company has systematically failed to comply with the
many complex undertakings included in its contract with the county.” Evelyn,
Easterly and Edwards were unavailable for comment at press time. Clark County
officials are declining media requests while the legal case is pending.

October 28, 2009 The New
Mexican
The state of New Mexico would have to shutter two prisons, give early
releases to up to 660 prisoners and lay off and
furlough Corrections Department employees if Gov. Bill Richardson signs
budget cuts approved by the Legislature, his office said Wednesday.
Richardson's office raised that grim possibility as his staff analyzes the
impact of $253 million in spending cuts legislators passed during a special
session last week to deal with a revenue shortfall. His administration on
Monday had said other cuts approved by the Legislature could mean the state
Human Services Department would reduce children's health care, nutrition
programs for seniors and programs for the developmentally disabled, if he
were to sign the measures. But lawmakers say they won't be blamed for
decisions that are now up to Richardson. "He wants it to seem like we're
making the decisions," said House Minority Whip Keith Gardner,
R-Roswell. "But he's making the calls where he wants to cut. He's making
that decision." The Corrections Department said that in order to meet
$21 million in budget cuts, it would have to close the Roswell Correctional
Center in Hagerman and the New Mexico Women's Correctional Facility in Grants.
About 270 inmates are incarcerated at the state-operated Roswell facility,
while about 590 are housed in the Grants facility, which is operated by the
Corrections Corporation of America. The state would have to cancel its
contract with the company.

July 17, 2009 New Mexico
Independent
A new lawsuit filed in federal court this week accuses a former corrections
department contractor of medial malpractice in its care for the state’s
prisoners, the Albuquerque Journal reports today. The lawsuit names Wexford
Health Sources Inc., Corrections Secretary Joe Williams, medical
professionals and others on behalf of a former Penitentiary of New Mexico
inmate named Martin Valenzuela, 52, who now lives in Texas, the paper
reports. According to the complaint, Valenzuela was serving an eight-year
prison sentence at the Santa Fe prison in 2006 when he developed a urinary
tract problem that led to an emergency hospital admission. The complaint
describes lack of medical attention leading up to a January 2007 surgery,
lack of a policy for follow-up care and the subsequent loss of medical
records by the prison and the hospitals, according to the paper. This is not
the only lawsuit against Wexford that alleges improper care. Others have been
filed previously. Here’s an excerpt of the Journal story: Wexford is also
defending against a lawsuit filed by an inmate who claimed he was essentially
lost in the system for purposes of chemotherapy he needed to treat colon
cancer, although he was housed within a few hundred feet of the Los Lunas
prison hospital. Michael Crespin’s medical malpractice lawsuit was filed in
2008, but he died before his attorneys could persuade a court to order a
videotaped deposition in the case. The lawsuit, now being pursued by a
personal representative on behalf of Crespin’s estate, has been mired in a
fight over what documents must be produced by Wexford. Lawyers for the estate
are demanding documents related to financial contributions, gifts, meals,
entertainment by Wexford company officers between 2001 and 2008 to Gov. Bill
Richardson, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish or any of the political action committees
that might have supported them, including Si Se Puede PAC and Moving America
Forward PAC. The Journal story goes on to list still other lawsuits that
allege improper medical care, including one in which four women allege sexual
assaults, batteries and rapes by former Correctional Medical Services
employee. Another has been filed by the family of a federal detainee who died
while awaiting a deportation hearing in southeastern New Mexico is alleging
medical negligence. Wexford Health Sources was cited often for problems when
it held the contract to provide health care in New Mexico’s prisons. It
eventually lost the contract. A May 2007 audit by the Legislative Finance Committee
found gaping holes in the delivery of care provided by Wexford, including too
few physicians, dentists and optometrists on staff, according to two prison
health experts that visited five facilities in February and March of that
year. Wexford also failed to issue timely reports on 14 inmates who died at
correctional facilities in 2006, the audit found. The Santa Fe Reporter,
meanwhile, did extensive reporting on the health care delivered in New
Mexico’s prisons and first uncovered the lapses.

July 12, 2008 Santa Fe New
Mexican
When the doors swing open on the Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility
next month, inmates will file in, new employees will start collecting
paychecks and a tiny corner of the state will become its own small economic
engine. The opening marks another milestone as well. Once Clayton is online,
the number of inmates living in the state's privately run prisons will almost
match the number living in state-run slammers. To be exact: 46.5 percent of
male inmates will be in prisons run by private companies. The other 53.5
percent will be in state-run prisons. One hundred percent of female inmates
will be in private facilities. If the number of criminals behind private bars
seems big, it is: New Mexico has the highest rate of private prison use in
the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Indeed, the prison
near the Rabbit Ear Mountains in Clayton, just shy of the border with
Oklahoma and Texas in northeastern New Mexico, caps a major shift in state
policy over the past three decades of housing an increasing number of
criminals in privately run prisons. Since 1980, the year a deadly prison riot
made awful headlines for the state, the number of inmates has increased 440
percent. Including Clayton, the number of prisons has gone from one to 11, a
figure that doesn't include Camino Nuevo, a privately operated prison that
has opened and closed since then. And questions about whether privatizing was
the best choice have mounted. As the state's inmate population grew, so did lawmakers'
interest in private prisons, seen by proponents as a way to save money and
outsource some of the state's toughest jobs. Ten years ago, the state had
only two privately run prisons — the New Mexico Women's Correctional Facility
in Grants, open since 1989, and the Hobbs prison, which opened in 1998. Now,
when Clayton opens, it will have five, spread out around the state. The
change in inmate-management policy didn't happen overnight, and hasn't
happened without controversy. It also couldn't have happened without two New
Mexico governors, most notably former Gov. Gary Johnson, who kicked off the
privatization push, and Gov. Bill Richardson, who has kept the trend alive.
It was under Johnson's watch that the 1,200-bed lockup in Hobbs opened in
1998. A year later came the 600-bed Santa Rosa prison. Both are run by The
GEO Group, formerly Wackenhut. Those weren't good times; both facilities
suffered deadly confrontations. Three inmates were killed in Hobbs and a
prison guard was murdered in a riot in Santa Rosa in less than a year. Before
that, an inmate in Santa Rosa died after he was beaten with a laundry bag
full of rocks. New Mexico hadn't seen so much prison violence since the 1980
riot at the state penitentiary, where 33 people died. No new state prisons?
When Richardson ran for office in 2002, he pledged there would be no new
state prisons built on his watch. "The governor said he would not build
new state prisons, and he has not done so," spokesman Gilbert Gallegos
said in a statement to The New Mexican. "All of the capital money that
would have been used for new state prisons has instead been invested in new
schools, modernizing highways and updating infrastructure in communities
across the state." Still, since he's been governor, 240 beds have been added
to the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility near Santa Rosa, run by The GEO
Group. The Camino Nuevo Correctional Center in Albuquerque, operated by the
Corrections Corporation of America, opened in 2006. In 2007 came the 234-bed,
minimum-security Springer Correctional Center, which is run by the state. And
then came Clayton. The town of Clayton is paying to
build the facility, which will house 625 inmates, nearly all of them state
prisoners. The town is using $63 million in revenue bonds to finance the
project. Clayton officials have welcomed the prison — and its jobs — as a
major source of economic activity in the outpost of about 2,500. Critics,
however, say the lockup is essentially a state prison. "I guess it's a
debate in semantics, but it's holding state prisoners," said Sen. John
Arthur Smith, a Deming Democrat and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
"I guess the governor gets a certain amount of satisfaction in saying
the state didn't build it, but from a functional point of view, the state
might as well have built it," he said. Gallegos said that's not the
case. "Of course it's not a state prison. The town of Clayton and GEO
can house county or federal inmates," he said. "Beds were available
for medium-security inmates, and the Corrections Department chose to take
advantage of the new facility for some of its inmates." Of the 625 beds,
600 will be used for state prisoners. Others suggest Richardson chose to
support the Clayton project to curry favor in the heavily Republican Union County.
"We could have added a wing or pods to other facilities that could have
been expanded," said Senate Minority Whip Leonard Lee Rawson, R-Las
Cruces. Adding on to places such as Santa Rosa or Hobbs would have been
cheaper and quicker than building a new prison, he added. "But the
governor decided he wanted to build in Clayton for political purposes. We can
say it's good economic development, but I don't
think it was the best choice for the public," he said. The Governor's
Office denied that, saying Richardson "already had great relationships
with Democrats and Republicans in Clayton." And, Corrections Department
Secretary Joe Williams said, building the Clayton prison was "absolutely
the right decision." "When we signed those agreements, we were
operating at well over 100 percent capacity," he said. "We were
busting at the seams when we did that." In the past two years, however,
the state's prison population has dropped 6.6 percent, a recent report found.
Williams said even though population projections are now much lower than they
were when talk of Clayton first surfaced, the state still needs the facility,
particularly because it will provide beds for medium-custody, or level 3,
inmates. "That's where we need the bed space, and that's what Clayton
will provide us," he said. Inmates from a variety of facilities will be
moved to Clayton, which is expected to be full within 60 days of opening.
Questions about Clayton -- As it gets ready to open, there are other
questions about the cost of building the new prison. A review done for the
Legislative Finance Committee in 2007 found that the prison's actual cost
will be much higher than the construction costs, which at the time of the
report were estimated to be $61 million. Over twenty years, the state will
pay $132 million in construction and finance charges, but will not own the
building, according to the report. As part of the $95.33 per diem the state
will pay to house inmates in the new prison, $27.81 will go to pay
construction costs. The high cost of building private prisons has left some
lawmakers concerned about whether the state can afford to keep so many
inmates there. Williams said a big part of the reason the building cost was
so high was because construction costs have gone way up. "You look at
the cost of a gallon of gas and then you look at the cost of a new prison
bed, and everything is going to have its increases and it is
inflationary," he said. Williams also pointed out that the cost of labor
has gone up since prisons were built 10 years ago in Hobbs and Santa Rosa.
Other lawmakers have a philosophical opposition to the opening of the Clayton
prison, and to private prisons in general, saying it's the job of the
government, not corporations, to house prisoners. "I don't believe it's
the right way, I don't think they should be for profit," said Senate
Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen. Sanchez said prisons are the
state's responsibility. "Hopefully Clayton will be the last one,"
he said. An inmate drought? It's unclear, however, when the state will need
another new prison. The state was expected to run out of bed space in August
of 2011 for males and in March of 2012 for females, but that's no longer the
case. The most recent projections show the state is expected to run out of
space in 2017 for men and in 2015 for women. The department warns, however,
that those projections are subject to change. "Our projections totally
changed from last year to this year where we were on a spike up, and now
we're growing but at a much smaller pace," Williams said. While it has
dropped off recently, the population is expected to grow by about 1.4 percent
in the coming years. "We're in a great state as far as corrections go
for the first time in many, many years, I think," he said. "I think
we're in a position a lot of states wish they were. We have room and capacity
to grow." So why is the prison population — long on the increase — now
decreasing? A recent report by the New Mexico Sentencing Commission shows the
state's prison population has dropped for several reasons. The study,
released last week, said one reason is a Corrections Department policy that
is increasingly imposing sanctions other than prison for technical parole
violations such as missing a counseling session. The study also said a 2006
state law that allows the department to let nonviolent inmates earn time off
during the first 60 days of their stay is leading to some inmates getting out
of prison sooner. Previously, inmates had to wait to start earning time. It
also said felony drug courts were playing a role. The state now has 31, and
the report says that although the courts are not a diversion option for
prison, they may indirectly keep offenders from being rearrested and going to
prison. The courts provide treatment, mandatory drug testing and judicial
oversight, among other things. But if the projections are now lower than they
have been, that might be a good thing for the Corrections Department. When it
did its report, the LFC found the department wasn't ready for projected
growth. "The department lacks active long-term planning to accommodate
inmate growth, leading to a disjointed approach to acquiring bed space that
proves costly," according to the report. The committee asked the
department to put together a 10-year plan, which it has. But, Williams said,
the plan was outdated almost as soon as it was written. "I didn't like
10-year plans because things are ever-changing in the department,
projections, forecasts," he said. "It's hard enough to predict year
to year or two years." Williams also pointed out that there are
advantages to having some space available in the state's prisons. The state
now has enough room — and the cash — to refurbish some cells at the state
penitentiary and Western New Mexico Correctional Facility, work that has been
a long time coming, he said. In addition, Williams said the state is
considering implementing recent recommendations of a prison reform task force
appointed by Richardson. "The plan is hopefully this prison reform might
change the way we do business forever," he said. "If we are
diverting people into drug courts and mental health courts and our re-entry
initiatives are successful, it could be a while before we see a new
prison."

May 24, 2007 The New Mexican
New Mexico pays significantly more than nearby states to house inmates in
private prisons, according to a report presented Wednesday to state
lawmakers. The 100-page audit by a Legislative Finance Committee review team
says New Mexico's private-prison spending rose 57 percent in the past six
years, while the inmate population increased only 21 percent. "Business
decisions across two administrations may result in New Mexico paying an
estimated $34 million more than it should pay for private prison construction
costs," the report says. But Corrections Secretary Joe Williams defended
the private prisons, saying the higher operating costs are justified. The
major private prison operator in the state is The GEO Group, which operates
facilities in Hobbs and Santa Rosa and will operate a prison being built in
Clayton. GEO, formerly known as Wackenhut, was brought in to manage private
prisons by former Gov. Gary Johnson and has been embraced by Gov. Bill
Richardson. New Mexico pays nearly $69 a day per inmate at the private prison
in Hobbs and more than $70 at the prison in Santa Rosa. In Texas, the cost is
$34.66 a day. Colorado pays $50.28 a day for inmates at private prisons. In
Oklahoma, the rate is $41.23. Other states listed in the study include Idaho,
$42.30, and Montana, $54.58. The LFC recommends New Mexico restructure its
contracts with GEO for the existing facilities.

May 23, 2007 KOAT TV
Target 7 has uncovered a state report that said New Mexico's Corrections
Department costs taxpayers millions more than it should. The investigation
began more than a year ago, Action 7 News reported. Target 7 looked into the
relationship between the state corrections department and the GEO Group, a
private company that runs two state prisons with another one in the works.
The lease to run a third prison is a central part of an audit released on
Wednesday, that said while New Mexico's prisons are doing better than in the
past, the state is paying too much for what it gets. The audit also found the
corrections department is overpaying for private prison costs and for health
care. But the state is in the process of negotiating with a new company for
prison health care. The audit highlights the state's lease agreement to put
inmates in a new prison in Clayton, N.M. The state's lease with GEO Group
pays not just for prisoners but also for the cost to build the prison. The
audit said the department would pay $132 million, nearly twice the cost of
construction. That's because the deal was done last fall, just weeks before
New Mexicans voted to let the state lease with an option to buy. The lease is
just a small part of the audit, but it's a sign the legislature may be
keeping a closer eye on the business of New Mexico's prisons. Secretary Joe
Williams takes issue with the report, but he said there are positive
suggestions in it. The department plans to sit down with some of the private
companies running half of New Mexico's prisons to talk about restructuring
lease agreements.

February 7, 2007 The Santa Fe
Reporter
At the behest of the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC), two correctional health
experts have launched an extensive audit of the medical care in New Mexico’s
state prisons. SFR has learned that Dr. Steve Spencer and Dr. B Jaye Anno
were hired late last month by the LFC to evaluate the level of medicine
provided to state inmates. Their work is part of a larger audit the
Legislature is conducting of the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD),
slated for conclusion this spring. “We needed medical expertise in our audit,
because up until now we haven’t had any,” Manu Patel, the LFC’s deputy
director for audits, says. “This way, it’s not just us second-guessing the
Corrections Department. We can actually get a sense of what’s working and
what isn’t.” Patel says the contract with Spencer and Anno is worth
approximately $21,000. The health care component to the Corrections audit
follows a six-month investigation by SFR into Wexford Health Sources, the
private company that administers medical care to state inmates [Cover story,
Aug. 9, 2006: “Hard Cell?”]. The investigation led to a request for the audit
by the state Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee last
October [Outtakes, Oct. 25, 2006: “Medical Test”]. SFR’s series also
compelled Gov. Bill Richardson to terminate the state’s contract with Wexford
in December, a process that will likely take until June, when the prison
medical contract is up for renewal [Outtakes, Dec. 13, 2006: “Wexford Under
Fire”]. Regardless of Wexford’s fate, the LFC is pressing ahead with the
audit. “We are looking at this serving a long-term benefit to the Corrections
Department, so that we can all better evaluate the medical program in the
prisons and its services,” Patel says. Spencer, a former medical director of
NMCD, and Anno, who co-founded the National Commission on Correctional Health
Care, started work on Feb. 5, when they traveled to Lea County Correctional
Facility in Hobbs. “We’re going to look at a number of things when we travel
to the sights,” Spencer says. “We’ll look at the adequacy of staffing, the
appropriateness of care, the timeliness and use of off-site specialists.
We’ll review inmate deaths and whether Corrections is adequately monitoring
the contractor.” Moreover, the medical audit will involve a review of the
contract between Wexford and the Corrections Department, as well as sifting
through tuberculosis, HIV and other medical testing data. Various medical
personnel will also be interviewed throughout the process, Spencer says.
Inadequate tuberculosis testing, chronic staffing shortages and a systemic
failure to send inmates off-site have been among the concerns raised to SFR
by former and current Wexford employees [Outtakes, Oct. 18, 2006:
“Corrections Concerns”]. In an e-mail, Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman
said, in part, that Wexford plans to cooperate with the audit and is
confident its outcome will be positive. She also said Wexford is cooperating
with NMCD for a smooth transition. NMCD spokeswoman Tia Bland tells SFR that
Corrections is still working on a request for proposal, set to go out in March, that will kick off the agency’s search for a new
medical provider. “We’re providing [the auditors] with whatever they need,
and whatever the results are, we’ll use that information to our advantage in
working with the next vendor,” Bland says. Bland reiterates NMCD’s contention
that Wexford violated the terms of its contract with the state because of
staffing problems. She says Corrections is still analyzing whether Wexford
broke other contractual stipulations. During the mid-1990s, Spencer and Anno
were hired by the Wyoming Department of Corrections to conduct medical audits
of its prisons. Wexford, which administered health care for the Wyoming DOC,
eventually became embroiled in a US Justice Department investigation
regarding prison health care in that state and lost its contract. Recalls
Anno: “There were a number of problems with Wexford’s operation in Wyoming.”

January 10, 2007 Santa Fe
Reporter
For Elizabeth Ocean, the poor medical and psychological care at Southern New
Mexico Correctional Facility (SNMCF) in Las Cruces had become too much to
bear. After three years working as a mental health counselor there, she quit
her job last March. Ocean tells SFR that inmates reported waiting weeks, even
months, for medical and dental appointments and to receive prescription
medications. “The guys came to me constantly about the medical care,” Ocean
says. “They were going and putting in requests and waiting so long to be
seen. A lot of times, they were being told there was nothing wrong with
them.” Wexford Health Sources, a private, Pennsylvania-based company, has
handled health care in New Mexico’s state prisons since July 2004. On the
heels of a six-month SFR investigative series on Wexford, in which many
former and current Wexford employees came forward, Gov. Bill Richardson told
the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) on Dec. 8 to replace Wexford
[Outtakes, Dec. 13: “Wexford Under Fire”]. NMCD spokeswoman Tia Bland says
NMCD is moving ahead with the termination process and that a request for
proposals will be crafted by March. Bland says NMCD has identified at least
one area—staffing shortages—in which Wexford violated the terms of its state
contract. Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman did not return phone or e-mail
messages. Ocean says the problems in the facility where she worked were
systemic. Earlier this year, she says she wrote letters to the US Justice
Department and the governor’s office, alerting them to the health care
deficiencies. She also wrote of four fellow mental health counselors whom
Ocean alleges were operating without state licenses; Ocean also filed a
complaint last January with the New Mexico Counseling and Therapy Practice
Board. On May 17, Erma Sedillo, NMCD’s deputy secretary of operations, wrote
Ocean on behalf of the governor’s office to inform her that NMCD was working
to obtain the counselors’ temporary licenses. Sedillo did not return a phone
message, but spokeswoman Bland confirms a past “licensure issue” at NMCD
because the department was unaware of a recent change in existing state regulations
that now require mental health professionals working in prisons to obtain a
full state counseling license. “When we discovered the change, we got all of
our counselors to obtain full licenses,” Bland says. As for Ocean, she is out
of the prisons, but still connected. Ocean is married to an inmate and former
patient at SNMCF, who is incarcerated for murder. She says their relationship
started after he was no longer a patient. Ocean adds: “I saw with my own eyes
all the problems, all the injustices at the prison before I ever married
him.”

December 13, 2006 Santa Fe
Reporter
After two troubled years of administering health care in New Mexico’s
prisons, Wexford Health Sources will lose its multimillion-dollar contract
with the state. Wexford has been the subject of a five-month investigative
series by this paper. Now, SFR has learned that on Dec. 8, Gov. Bill
Richardson ordered the New Mexico Corrections Department (NCMD) to
immediately begin the search for a new health care provider. “The governor
has directed the Corrections Department to develop and implement immediate
and long-term options for improving health care quality at the state’s
correctional facilities,” Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos says. “Those
options are expected to include sanctions and seeking another provider—which
basically means the Corrections Department will be crafting a request for
proposal [RFP] to solicit a new vendor. They’re working out the terms of the
RFP now and will most likely be terminating the contract with Wexford.”
Wexford’s contract expires in June 2007, Gallegos says. SFR has repeatedly
and exclusively published allegations by current and former Wexford employees
regarding inmate care [Cover story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. Those accounts
focused on dangerously low medical staffing levels at the nine correctional
facilities where Wexford operates; Wexford’s refusal to grant chronically ill
inmates critical, off-site specialty care; and systemic problems in
administering prescription medicine to inmates. Gallegos says the governor
learned about the problems with Wexford through SFR’s stories. “The governor
had been concerned about the quality of care delivered in the correctional
facilities and directed the Corrections Department to increase oversight of
Wexford,” Gallegos says. “Corrections was doing
that, but it appeared that many of those deficiencies were not being
corrected.” Wexford, which also administers health care in facilities run by
the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD), will lose
those operations as well, Gallegos says. Wexford began working in New Mexico
in July 2004, after signing a $27 million contract with NMCD. The
Pittsburgh-based company has also lost contracts in Wyoming and Florida
because of similar concerns over health care. SFR also learned this week that
Dr. Phillip Breen, Wexford’s regional medical director in New Mexico, has
resigned, effective Dec. 31. In addition, a dentist at a state prison in
Hobbs tells SFR that facility is so understaffed that inmates sometimes wait
up to six weeks to receive important dental care. Dr. Ray Puckett, who has
been working as a part-time dentist at Lea County Correctional Facility
(LCCF) in Hobbs for approximately one year, alleges that some inmates are
suffering because the backlog to receive dental treatment is so massive.
“I’ve heard about inmates pulling their own teeth after months and months.
I’ve heard about inmates saying, ‘I just can’t stand it anymore,’” he says.
Puckett says Wexford should have hired a full-time dentist at LCCF because so
many inmates require medical attention to take care of abscesses, cavities,
tooth extractions and other painful dental problems. Puckett works at the
facility only one day a week, during which he typically sees up to 16
patients. He says that Wexford also has another dentist who will occasionally
work one day a week at the facility. “What we have now is a poorly run
operation. It’s grossly understaffed and disorganized. And it ends up being
unfortunate for the inmates,” Puckett says. Wexford Vice President Elaine
Gedman did not respond to e-mails and phone calls from SFR. Corrections
spokeswoman Tia Bland says NMCD is not aware of a backlog of dental patients
at LCCF, but will look into it. She adds that Wexford is only required to
have a dentist at LCCF for two days a week. With regard to the governor’s
action against Wexford, Bland says: “It’s a fact. Wexford has not met its
contractual obligations to the Department, and that’s something we can’t
ignore. We have to do something about it. We will be putting a plan in
place.” In the coming year, both Wexford and NMCD are slated for an extensive
audit by the Legislative Finance Committee. The audit was the result of a
hearing on Wexford by the Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee
in October. The hearings also were held in response to reports in this paper
[Outtakes, Oct. 25: “Medical Test”]. It’s now unclear whether the audit will
still take place. As for Puckett, he has considered leaving his post because
of what’s happening at LCCF. A veteran of correctional health care, he also
worked for Wexford’s predecessors, Addus HealthCare and Correctional Medical
Services. In his estimation, both companies, which operate to make a profit
like Wexford, cared more about the inmates’ physical well-being and were
willing to sacrifice dollars to ensure that medical problems were treated
expeditiously. Says Puckett: “It is my sense that Wexford doesn’t care what
sort of facility they run. Everything is run on a bare-bones budget. They’re
in it to make money.” Not anymore. When asked whether there was any chance at
all that Wexford could remain in its current capacity at NMCD or CYFD,
Richardson spokesman Gallegos responded: “They’re done. The governor’s
intention is to replace Wexford with a new company. We expect to have a new
provider in a reasonable amount of time.”

November 28, 2006 Santa Fe
Reporter
In the latest setback for Wexford Health Sources, a former employee has
slapped the prison health care company with a civil lawsuit alleging racial
discrimination. The suit, filed Oct. 25 in US District Court in Albuquerque,
alleges that former health services administrator Don Douglas was fired by
Wexford last October because he is black. Moreover, the suit alleges that
sick and injured inmates at Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs, where
Douglas worked, received poor treatment and that the facility lacked critical
medical staff. Wexford, which administers health care in New Mexico’s
prisons, has been the subject of a four-month SFR investigation [Cover story,
Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. As a result, the Courts, Corrections and Justice
Committee held a hearing last month, and the Legislative Finance Committee is
slated to audit Wexford and the New Mexico Corrections Department [Outtakes,
Nov. 8: “Prison Audit Ahead”]. The allegations in Douglas’ lawsuit echo many
of the concerns from employees who have talked to SFR. Specifically, it
charges that even though Douglas alerted a Wexford corporate administrator
about medical and staffing problems, the company did not respond. Instead,
according to the lawsuit, Douglas’ job was audited and he was found
negligent, despite no prior problems and a record of exemplary job
evaluations. On Oct. 10, 2005, Douglas was fired and replaced by a white
woman, the lawsuit says. “Wexford did not provide critical health care in a
timely manner, and I called attention to that,” Douglas tells SFR. “Inmates
have a civil right as incarcerated American citizens to be afforded adequate
health care. But that service is not being provided, and Wexford is
neglecting inmates.” Douglas began working at Wexford in July 2004, but also
worked for its predecessor, Addus. Shortly after his firing, Douglas filed a
complaint with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). A June
5 letter from the EEOC’s Albuquerque office says the agency found reasonable
cause to believe Douglas “was terminated because of his race.” When queried
by SFR, Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman wrote in a Nov. 27 e-mail that
Wexford is withholding comment until the forthcoming audit is complete and
referred to 14 prior successful audits of Wexford. Corrections spokeswoman
Tia Bland also would not comment on the lawsuit and noted that NMCD does not
oversee Wexford personnel matters. Says Deshonda Charles Tackett, Douglas’
lawyer: “This is an important case. Mr. Douglas should not have to suffer
racial discrimination in an effort to provide inmates with proper health
care.”

November 22, 2006 Santa Fe
Reporter
The medical director of a state prison in Hobbs has stepped down from his
post less than a month after a legislative committee requested an audit of
the corrections health care in the state. Dr. Don Apodaca, medical director
of Lea County Correctional Facility (LCCF), turned in his resignation on Nov.
6 due to concerns that inmates there are not receiving sufficient access to
health care. According to Apodaca, sick inmates are routinely denied off-site
visits to medical specialists and sometimes have to wait months to receive
critical prescription drugs. Apodaca blames the policies of Wexford Health
Sources, the private company that contracts with the state to provide
medicine in New Mexico’s prisons, for these alleged problems. Wexford has
been the subject of a four-month SFR investigation, during which a growing
number of former and current employees have contended that Wexford is more
concerned with saving money than providing adequate health care, and that
inmates suffer as a result. On Oct. 24, the Legislative Finance Committee
(LFC) tentatively approved an audit that will assess Wexford’s contract with
the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) and also evaluate the quality of
health care rendered to inmates [Outtakes, Nov. 8: “Prison Audit Ahead”].
LCCF’s medical director since January 2006, Apodaca is one of the
highest-ranking ex-Wexford employees to come forward thus far. His
allegations of Wexford’s denials of off-site care and the delays in obtaining
prescription drugs echo those raised by other former and current employees
during the course of reporting for this series [Cover story, Aug. 9: “Hard
Cell?”]. Specifically, Apodaca says he personally evaluated inmates who
needed off-site, specialty care, but that Wexford consistently denied his
referrals. Apodaca cites the cases of an inmate who needed an MRI, another
inmate who suffered from a hernia and a third inmate who had a cartilage tear
in his knee as instances in which inmates were denied off-site care for
significant periods of time against his recommendations. When inmates are actually
cleared for off-site care in Albuquerque, they are transported in full
shackles without access to a bathroom for the six- to seven-hour trip,
Apodaca says. “Inmates told me they aren’t allowed to go to the bathroom and
ended up soiling themselves,” he says. “The trip is so bad they end up
refusing to go even when we get the off-site visits approved.” When it comes
to prescription drugs, there also are significant delays, Apodaca says.
Inmates sometimes wait weeks or even months for medicine used for heart and
blood pressure conditions, even though Apodaca says he would write orders for
those medicines repeatedly. “Wexford was not providing timely treatment and
diagnoses of inmates,” he says. “There were tragic cases where patients
slipped through the cracks, were not seen for inordinately long times and
suffered serious or fatal consequences.” Apodaca says he began documenting
the medical problems at the facility in March. After detailing in writing the
cases of 40 to 50 patients whom he felt had not received proper clinical
care, Apodaca says he alerted Dr. Phillip Breen, Wexford’s regional medical
director, and Cliff Phillips, Wexford’s regional health services
administrator, through memos, e-mails and phone calls. In addition, Apodaca
says he alerted Wexford’s corporate office in Pittsburgh. Neither Breen nor
Phillips returned phone messages left by SFR. Apodaca says he also informed
Devendra Singh, NMCD’s quality assurance manager for health services.
According to Apodaca, Singh assured him that he would require Wexford to look
into the matter, but Apodaca says he never heard a final response. “Wexford
was simply not receptive to any of the information I was sending them, and I
became exasperated,” he says. “It came to the point where I felt uncomfortable
with the medical and legal position I was in. There were individuals who
needed health care who weren’t getting it.” Singh referred all questions to
NMCD spokeswoman Tia Bland; Bland responded to SFR in a Nov. 20 e-mail: “If Don Apodaca has information involving specific
incidents, we will be happy to look into the situation. Otherwise, we will
wait for the LFC’s audit results, review them and take it from there.”
Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman would not comment specifically on
Apodaca’s allegations. In a Nov. 20 e-mail to SFR, she wrote that Wexford
will cooperate with the Legislature’s audit and is confident the outcome will
be similar to the 14 independent audits performed since May 2005 by national
correctional organizations. “Wexford is proud of the service we have provided
to the Corrections Department as documented in these independent audits and
looks forward to continuing to provide high quality health care services in
New Mexico,” Gedman writes. Members of the Legislature’s Courts, Corrections
and Justice Committee, which requested the forthcoming audit, toured LCCF on
Oct. 19 and were told by both Wexford and NMCD officials that there were no
health care problems at the facility. On the same tour, however, committee
members heard firsthand accounts from inmates who complained they couldn’t
get treatment when they became sick [Outtakes, Oct. 25: “Medical Test”]. That
visit, along with Apodaca’s accounts, calls into question Wexford’s and
NMCD’s accounts, State Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Bernalillo,
says. “We were told on our tour that nothing was wrong. And now to
hear that there is a claim that Wexford and the Corrections Department might
have known about this makes it seem like this information was knowingly
covered up,” McSorley, co-chairman of the committee, says. “We can’t trust
what’s being told to us. The situation may require independent oversight far
beyond what we have. This should be the biggest story in the state right
now.”

November 8, 2006 Santa Fe
Reporter
The New Mexico State Legislature is one step closer to an audit of Wexford
Health Sources, the private company that administers health care in New
Mexico’s prisons. On Oct. 24, the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC)
tentatively approved the audit, which will evaluate Wexford’s contract with
the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) and also assess the quality of
health care administered to inmates. The request for a review of Wexford
originated with the state Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice
Committee, which voted unanimously on Oct. 20 to recommend the audit after a
hearing on prison health care in Hobbs [Outtakes, Oct. 25: “Medical Test”]. A
subsequent Oct. 30 letter sent to the LFC by committee co-chairmen Rep.
Joseph Cervantes, D-Dońa Ana, and Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Bernalillo, refers
to “serious complaints raised by present and former employees” of Wexford.
The letter cites this newspaper’s reportage of the situation and notes that
on a recent tour of Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs, “committee
members heard numerous concerns from inmates about medical problems not being
addressed.” It also refers to confidential statements Wexford employees
provided to the committee that were then turned over
to the LFC. The decision to examine Wexford and NMCD comes on the coattails
of months of reports that state inmates are suffering behind bars due to
inadequate medical services, documented in an ongoing, investigative series
by SFR. Over the past three months, former and current employees have alleged
staffing shortages as well as problems with the dispensation of prescription
drugs and the amount of time sick inmates are forced to wait before receiving
urgent care [Cover story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. The timing, Manu Patel, the
LFC’s deputy director for audits, says, is ideal, because the LFC already
planned to initiate a comprehensive audit of NMCD, the first in recent
history. Regarding the medical component of the audit, Patel says: “We will
be looking at how cost-effective Wexford has been. Also, we will be looking
at the quality of care, how long inmates have to wait to receive care and
what [Wexford’s] services are like.” Patel says the LFC plans to contract
with medical professionals to help evaluate inmates’ care. As per a request
from the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, current Wexford employees
will be given a chance to participate in the audit anonymously. The audit’s
specifics require final approval from the LFC in December; the committee will
likely take up to six months to generate a report, according to Patel. In a
Nov. 6 e-mail to SFR, Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman cites 14
successful, independent audits performed of Wexford in New Mexico since May
2005. “Wexford is proud of the service we have provided to the Corrections
Department as documented in these independent audits and looks forward to
continuing high quality health care services in New Mexico,” Gedman writes.
NMCD spokeswoman Tia Bland echoes Gedman: “We welcome the audit and plan on
cooperating any way we can,” she says. Meanwhile, former employees continue
to come forward. Kathryn Hamilton, an ex-NMCD mental health counselor, says
she worked alongside Wexford staff at the Pen for two months, shortly after
the company took the reins in New Mexico in July 2004. Hamilton alleges that
mentally ill inmates were cut off psychotropic medicine for cheaper, less
effective drugs and that inmates waited too long to have prescriptions
renewed and suffered severe behavioral withdrawals as a result. Hamilton, who
had worked at the Pen since April 2002, says she encountered the same sorts
of problems under Addus, Wexford’s predecessor, but quit shortly after
Wexford’s takeover because the situation wasn’t improving. “They would stop
meds, give inmates the wrong meds or refuse to purchase meds that were not on
their formulary, even if they were prescribed by a doctor,” Hamilton says. “I
felt angry, sometimes helpless, although I always tried to speak with
administrators to help the inmates.” Hamilton married a state inmate by proxy
last month, after continuing a correspondence with him following her tenure
at the Pen. Hamilton says she did not serve as a counselor to the inmate,
Anthony Hamilton, but met him after helping conduct a series of mental health
evaluations. Hamilton has been a licensed master social worker under her
maiden name since 2000 (according to the New Mexico Board of Social Work
Examiners). She emphasizes that her relationship with her husband did not
begin until after she left the Corrections Department. According to Hamilton,
her husband, still incarcerated at the Pen for aggravated assault, recently
contracted methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a serious
staph infection. In a previous story, four current Wexford employees
specifically mentioned MRSA as a concern to SFR because they allege Wexford
does not supply proper protective equipment for staff treating infectious
diseases like MRSA [Outtakes, Oct. 18: “Corrections Concerns”]. Wexford Vice
President Gedman did not address Hamilton’s claims when queried by SFR.
Corrections spokeswoman Bland also says she can’t comment on Hamilton’s
allegations because she had not spoken with Hamilton’s supervisor at the time
of her employment. Says Hamilton: “I initially called the newspaper as the
concerned wife of an inmate, not as a former therapist. With all the stories
the Reporter has done, I wanted to come forward with what I had seen at the
Pen.”

October 25, 2006 Santa Fe
Reporter
Following months of reports that state inmates are suffering behind bars due to
deficient medical services, a state legislative committee has requested a
special audit of health care in New Mexico’s state prisons. During an Oct. 20
hearing at New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs, members of the Courts,
Corrections and Justice Committee voted unanimously to ask for the audit,
which will focus on Wexford. Last week’s hearing resulted in a requested
audit of New Mexico’s prison health care. (Photo by Dan Frosch.). Health
Sources, the private company that contracts with the
New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD). The company’s operation in New
Mexico has been the subject of a three-month investigative series by SFR,
during which former and current Wexford employees have come forward with
allegations of problematic health services for inmates [Cover Story, Aug. 9:
“Hard Cell?”]. As a result of the series, the Courts, Corrections and Justice
Committee decided to address the issue during a regularly scheduled hearing
in Hobbs [Outtakes, Sept. 13: “Checkup”]. Norbert Sanchez, a nurse suspended
by Wexford in September after an alleged dispute with health administrators,
spoke at the hearing about problems he witnessed at Central New Mexico
Correctional Facility in Los Lunas. Sanchez recalled witnessing a
wheelchair-bound inmate who sat in his own feces for hours and a sick inmate
who missed critical doses of medicine for congestive heart failure. Sanchez
also expressed concerns that echo those raised
previously to SFR by other former and current Wexford staff: a systemic lack
of medical supplies, failure to properly dole out prescription drugs and
reluctance to send sick inmates off-site for specialized treatment. Though he
was the only former Wexford employee in attendance, Sanchez referred
legislators to a packet he’d disseminated with testimony from current Wexford
employees. Those employees feared retaliation if they came forward, Sanchez
said. ACLU New Mexico staff attorney George Bach testified that his
organization has been hearing similar concerns from Wexford employees and
that many are, indeed, afraid to go public. “These employees are so
passionate about this issue that if you called them to testify, I’m certain
they would do it,” Bach said. Both NMCD and Wexford refuted Sanchez’ and
Bach’s allegations. Devendra Singh, NMCD’s quality assurance manager for
health services, hashed through the nationally approved correctional health
care standards to which he said the Corrections Department adheres. He also
pointed to the strict auditing process he said NMCD uses to monitor Wexford.
“We go for auditing for every inch of every aspect of care,” Singh said.
Wexford President and CEO Mark Hale said his Pennsylvania-based company is
subject to more stringent oversight in New Mexico than in any other state
where it operates. “If inmates need health care, they get it,” Hale, who
categorized the attacks on Wexford as deriving from disgruntled ex-employees,
said. But Singh’s and Hale’s assurances were not enough for the legislators
on hand, who peppered the two with questions. At one point, State Rep. Peter
Wirth, D-Santa Fe, referred to a recent SFR story in which a current Wexford
employee at Central decried treatment of inmates as inhumane and noted that
never before had the employee seen such deficiencies in health care
[Outtakes, Oct. 18: “Corrections Concerns”]. “That’s pretty darn scary to
me,” Wirth said of the allegation. Committee co-chairman and State Rep.
Joseph Cervantes, D-Dońa Ana, questioned Singh’s assertion that medical
complaints from inmates are rare and noted that on a tour of Lea County
Correctional Facility the previous night,
legislators had heard numerous inmate concerns about medical problems.
Co-chairman Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Bernalillo, said on the same tour he’d
seen an inmate suffering from a visible cystic infection. The cyst should
have easily been identified through only a “cursory” medical evaluation,
McSorley said. Corrections Secretary Joe Williams said his agency welcomes a
special audit of health care in the prisons. Legislators agreed that such an
audit, under the aegis of the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC), should be
conducted by an independent third party and include accounts from current
Wexford employees who could remain anonymous. LFC Chairman Lucky Varela,
D-Santa Fe, says he has not yet received an official request from the Courts,
Corrections and Justice Committee, but will be keeping an eye out. “We will
seriously consider looking at the Corrections component to see what type of
health care and what type of contracts are being approved by the Corrections Department,”
Varela says. Indeed, for Peter Wirth, the logical next step is an audit that
examines Wexford’s services and NMCD’s oversight and that allows current
employees to speak freely. Says Wirth: “We really need to hear more from
these folks. Obviously, we’ve begun a dialogue here, and we don’t want to
short-change it.”

October 18, 2006 Santa Fe
Reporter
Current prison health workers say they fear retaliation if they speak out.
Just days before state legislators convene a hearing on correctional health
care in New Mexico, a group of medical employees in the state prison system
have come to SFR with allegations about how inmates are treated. All four
requested anonymity because they say they fear retaliation from Wexford
Health Sources—the private company that administers health care in the
prisons—if their identities are revealed. The employees currently work at
Central New Mexico Correctional Facility. They allege, among other things,
that chronically ill inmates are forced to lie in their own feces for hours,
are taken off vital medicine to save money and often wait months before
receiving treatment for urgent medical conditions. Moreover, the employees
say conditions at the facility are unsanitary. “In my entire career, I’ve
never seen this sort of stuff happening,” one employee says. “These inmates
are not being treated humanely. They don’t live in sanitary conditions. They
live in pain.” Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman denies all the employees’
allegations in an e-mail response to SFR. Corrections spokeswoman Tia Bland
says the department is unaware of these allegations and that “none of these
issues have surfaced during our regular auditing process.” The employees’
allegations come on the heels of a series of stories by SFR, in which several
former Wexford employees have publicly come forward with similar charges
[Cover Story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. As a result of the stories, the state
Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee will hold a hearing
on Oct. 20 in Hobbs to discuss the matter [Outtakes, Sept. 13: “Checkup”].
Wexford and the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD), which oversees the
Pennsylvania-based company, have categorically denied charges that inmates
are being denied proper health care. These latest allegations are the first
to come from current employees of Wexford. The employees describe an
environment where medical staff must purchase their own wipes for incontinent
patients because they say Wexford administrators say there’s no money for
supplies. They say there’s a shortage of oxygen tanks and nebulizer machines
(for asthma patients) and also scant protective equipment for those staff
treating infectious diseases. Gedman says, “Wexford is unaware of any
shortage in medical supplies. Extra oxygen bottles and nebulizers are always
on hand and ready for any emergency use. The oxygen bottles are inventoried
daily as part of our emergency response requirement.” The employees also
allege that chronically ill inmates sometimes wait what they say is too long
to be taken off-site for specialty care. Gedman says this also is false and
that Wexford “strongly encourages all of our providers to refer patients for
necessary evaluation and treatment, off-site when necessary, as soon as
problems are identified that need specialty referral.” All four employees say
their complaints to Wexford administrators about the lack of supplies and
treatment of inmates have been ignored, and all believe coming forward
publicly will cost them their jobs. Gedman says this concern is unfounded because
“Wexford encourages an open-door policy for all employees to bring issues to
the attention of management so that they can be investigated and acted upon
as appropriate.” Bland says Corrections staff are
“visible and accessible in the prisons. If any of Wexford’s staff would like
to speak with us concerning these allegations, we welcome the information and
will certainly look into the matter.” As for the legislative hearing, State
Rep. Joseph Cervantes, R-Dońa Ana, co-chairman of the Courts, Corrections and
Justice Committee, says he hopes some of these Wexford critics will show up
in Hobbs. And he says further hearings are a possibility. “I hope there is a
full airing of the issues. I would like to learn that the Corrections
Department is working to resolve all of this, but if they haven’t, I expect
to make deadlines for them so we can expect adequate progress,” Cervantes
says. “We’d still like to protect the anonymity and bring to light any
allegations and complaints.” Cervantes also says he wants to introduce
legislation during the next session to protect whistle-blowers. Ken
Kopczynski, executive director of the Private Corrections Institute watchdog
group in Florida, says the Legislature must do everything it can to safeguard
current Wexford employees against retaliation. “The Legislature is the
ultimate authority, and they need to put pressure on the Corrections
Department to find out what the hell is going on. They also need to protect
these employees so they can come forward and testify about their specific
experiences,” Kopczynski says. “And if there are allegations of civil rights
abuse, which is what it sounds like, then the Justice Department needs to
come in.”

October 4, 2006 Santa Fe
Reporter
Medical personnel at a New Mexico state prison don’t have protective gear to
treat inmates with infectious diseases. Nurses at the same prison lack
sanitary wipes for sick inmates who have soiled themselves. Inmates regularly
miss doses of critical medicine because their prescriptions are not renewed properly.
These are just some of the allegations made by Norbert Sanchez, a nurse for
Wexford Health Sources, the private company that administers health care in
New Mexico’s state prisons. Sanchez asserts that Wexford suspended him on
Sept. 6 from his post at the Long Term Care Unit (LTCU) at Central New Mexico
Correctional Facility in retaliation for continually raising concerns about
Wexford’s operations at the facility. But he recently spoke with SFR in an
exclusive interview. His account follows a series of stories by SFR in which
a wide range of former Wexford employees have raised similarly serious
concerns regarding Wexford’s treatment of inmates [Cover Story, Aug. 9: “Hard
Cell?”]. “There were no guidelines, no policies from Wexford. It was unsafe
for the inmates and the employees,” Sanchez, a 20-year veteran nurse, says.
Sanchez says he began to work for Wexford in April and quickly noticed
problems. Incoming nurses received only scant safety training from Wexford
and were immediately thrown into intense treatment settings to plug staffing
shortages, he alleges. More disturbingly, Sanchez says that there weren’t
protective gowns and masks for medical staff who
needed to treat inmates with infectious diseases, dangerous for staff,
inmates and the general public. There also was a shortage of linens and
sanitary wipes, which are particularly critical for chronically ill inmates.
Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman responded in a lengthy Oct. 2 e-mail to
SFR. She would not comment on the details of Sanchez’s suspension but denies
he was disciplined for complaining. SFR also queried New Mexico Corrections
Department (NMCD) spokeswoman Tia Bland on Sanchez’ allegation of retaliation
and his issues with Wexford’s health care. Bland says NMCD has no information
on Sanchez’ employment status and is unaware of a shortage of medical
supplies or protective gear, as well as prescription drug lapses, but that
the Department is looking into it. As for Sanchez’s assertions about dirty
linens, Bland says: “The linens are our responsibility. We have gotten a
little behind with linen laundry in LTCU because of some electrical problems.
We’ve ordered new linens, and we’re working on fixing the problem.” Regarding
the staffing shortages Sanchez and other ex-Wexford employees have complained
of, Bland says: “We’ve always acknowledged staffing challenges. We are happy
to say the vacancy rate is the lowest it’s been in months. We applaud
Wexford’s efforts and encourage them to keep it up.” Ken Kopczynski,
executive director of the Private Corrections Institute watchdog group in
Florida, says that aside from the hearing, NMCD should consider liquidating
damages or fining Wexford if it refuses to live up to its contractual
obligations. NMCD hired Wexford in July 2004; last fall, a $35,000 agreement
was reached between NMCD and Wexford over the state’s concern that Wexford
didn’t provide enough work hours for its full-time employees, particularly
psychiatrists. “You’re only as good as your contract. And if there are
systematic problems here, than the state might need to hit Wexford where it
hurts,” Kopczynski says. Ultimately, though, Kopczynski maintains that it is
up to the Legislature and Corrections Secretary Joe Williams to ensure that
Wexford upholds humane standards of care. “Somebody needs to be enforcing
that contract. And it should be up to the Legislature to hold the secretary’s
feet to the fire,” he says. “And if the secretary chooses not to, then they
need to get rid of him.” Meanwhile, Sanchez says he plans on speaking at the
forthcoming hearing in Hobbs. “Wexford doesn’t care about its employees,” he
says. “And they don’t care about the inmates.”

September 13, 2006 Santa Fe
Reporter
Concerns about prison health care reported exclusively by the Santa Fe
Reporter will be discussed by a legislative committee next month. The Courts,
Corrections and Justice Committee will gather in Hobbs on Oct. 19 and 20 for
a regularly scheduled hearing and discuss, among other items, the health care
provided to state inmates by Wexford Health Sources. Wexford, a private,
Pennsylvania-based company, has come under fire from ex-employees who allege
that inmates receive dangerously substandard health care [Cover Story, Aug.
9: “Hard Cell?”]. State Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Dońa Ana, co-chairman of the
committee, says those concerns prompted the Legislature to take action. “The
issues [SFR] has raised have not come before our
committee recently. Inevitably, you get a perception that the management
wants you to see, but we want to go beyond that,” Cervantes says. Cervantes
expects representatives from Wexford and the New Mexico Corrections
Department (NMCD) to answer questions at the meetings. He also encouraged all
those who have concerns about Wexford’s health care in the prisons to come
forward. “We need these individuals to not only participate in the public
portion of the meetings but consider presenting evidence and testimony to the
committee,” Cervantes says. State Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Bernalillo,
co-chairman of the committee, echoes his counterpart’s sentiment. “With the
increasing outcry of health care in the prisons, Joe and I decided this was
an issue that needs to be discussed,” McSorley says. Meanwhile, SFR recently
obtained an Aug. 29 memo from Wexford that directs staff not to speak with
this paper. The memo is from J Chavez, identified as director of nursing at
Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Los Lunas. “It is important that
you either contact the Pittsburgh office or myself if this reporter contacts
you,” the memo states. “Please keep in mind that all of you have read and
signed the business code of conduct…” The memo also cites the company’s media
relations policy, which prohibits employees from speaking with the news media
on matters relating to Wexford.

September 4, 2006 Albuquerque
Tribune
When I got the no-return-address envelope in the mail, I figured it was
another anonymous tip on someone's opponent. It wasn't. The packet - yes,
sent without a name - outlined a revised ethics policy at the state
Corrections Department. Once I read on, I realized why he or she sent the
information namelessly. "We are told we cannot contact you without
violating this policy and face possible termination even though the only way
of getting information out to change problems is via the media," they
wrote. Nothing gets a reporter's heart pumping like something somebody
doesn't want them to know about. Especially in government. Tia Bland, Department of Corrections spokeswoman, said the code
doesn't prohibit employees from contacting the media. "I don't think we
have anything in our policy that says if a person is off duty and has a
conversation with a reporter, they are going to be fired." The
letter-writer goes on: "In the policy, it states we cannot tape or video
record a person. (Remember the Joe Williams piece on Channel 7) And if we do
we face possible termination." The mention of Williams, the department's
Cabinet secretary, is a reference to a recent KOAT-Channel 7 news segment
that showed Williams at a party in Clayton, where the GEO Group (formerly
Wackenhut) plans to build a new prison. The report said GEO helped pay the
tab for the gathering in the northern New Mexico town. A grainy video of the
event showed Williams walking out of the Clayton Civic Center, where
employees were dancing to "La Macarena." In terms of videotaping
people, the policy does say: "Applicable personnel are prohibited from
tape recording, video recording or otherwise electronically recording the
acts of others or conversations with or among other personnel while at or on
any work site, unless all persons proposed to be so recorded have consented
to being so recorded."

August 30, 2006 Santa Fe
Reporter
A Santa Fe dentist and his assistant say they quit their jobs at the
Penitentiary of New Mexico in 2004 because of concerns that state inmates
were not receiving adequate dental care. Dr. Norton Bicoll and Sharon Daily
left their employment at Wexford Health Sources, which handles health care in
nine New Mexico correctional facilities, because the company ordered them to
cut their hours for inmates in half, they say. Bicoll and Daily’s problems
with Wexford follow a number of serious allegations levied by six ex-Wexford
employees that also question the level of health care inmates are receiving
[Cover story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. Last week, SFR also reported that two
Albuquerque psychiatrists have sued Lovelace Health Systems for firing them
after they refused to participate in a proposed contract with Wexford. The
contract would have called for the psychiatrists to provide substandard
treatment to state inmates, the lawsuit alleges [Outtakes, Aug. 23:
“Unhealthy Proposal”]. These latest assertions about Wexford appear to be
part of a growing chorus of criticism of the company and its treatment of
inmates. Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman, who has responded previously
to questions regarding the company, did not respond to repeated requests for
comment for this story. But Bicoll and Daily’s issues with Wexford relate to
the company’s staffing shortages in New Mexico, one of the company’s most
pervasive problems, according to ex-employees. While both NMCD and Wexford
have consistently played down such shortages, according to Wexford’s own Web
site, there are currently 47 vacancies for medical personnel in New Mexico. That
number comprises close to half of the 117 total positions Wexford, the
nation’s third largest private correctional health care company, is currently
advertising for. Such vacancies not only include a range of nursing positions
but also critical, high ranking administrative posts. According to the Web
site, Wexford is looking to hire a director of nursing and medical director
at the New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants. The medical
director position is also open at Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility
in Las Cruces and Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs. The Penitentiary
of New Mexico needs a director of nursing. Ken Kopczynski, executive director
of the Private Corrections Institute watchdog group in Florida, says charges
of compromised prison health care in New Mexico warrant federal involvement.
“It would be good to get the Department of Justice involved if there are
allegations of lack of care on behalf of the inmates,” he says. “The New
Mexico Corrections Department and the Legislature can’t hide their heads in
the sand and say they didn’t know about these problems if there’s ever a
lawsuit. The inmates are ultimately the responsibility of the state, and you
can’t contract that away.”

August 25, 2006 The New Mexican
Santa Fe County has interviewed four people who applied to be the new jail
administrator. One high-profile candidate, however, took her name out of the
hat just before interviews were slated to begin Thursday. Ann Casey, a
lobbyist and Illinois jail official embroiled in controversy over her
relationship with state Corrections Secretary Joe Williams, had applied for
the job along with five others. Casey canceled her interview Thursday and
said she no longer wanted to be considered for the job, according to Assistant
County Attorney Carolyn Glick. Casey was in the news in New Mexico when the
state put Williams on unpaid leave and launched an investigation. Officials
looked into his relationship with the woman, including use of his work cell
phone and other expenses after the Albuquerque Journal reported billing
records for his state cell phone showed 644 calls between the two over five
months. Williams returned to work and is on probation following what a
governor's aide called "a lapse in judgment." Illinois officials
also looked into the matter, but Casey remains in her position of assistant
warden of programs at the Centralia Correctional Center, said department
spokesman Derek Schnapp. Casey was not available for comment.

May 31, 2006 New Mexican
A state prison contractor involved in the investigation of a relationship
between Corrections Secretary Joe Williams and a lobbyist contributed $10,000
to Gov. Bill Richardson's re-election campaign. The political-action
committee for Aramark -- a Philadelphia-based company that makes millions of
dollars a year to feed New Mexico inmates -- contributed to Richardson's
campaign in May 2005, according to Richardson's most recent campaign-finance
report. That was about a year after Aramark renewed its contract with the
state Corrections Department. Aramark also has been generous to the state
Democratic Party, contributing $10,000 in 2004, and the Democratic Governors
Association, which Richardson chairs. The company contributed a total of
$15,000 to the DGA in 2004 and another $15,000 in 2005, according to reports
filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Aramark provides food service to
more than 475 correctional institutions in North America. The corporation
also has food-service contracts in colleges, hospitals, convention centers
and stadiums. Richardson spokesman Pahl Shipley referred questions about the
campaign donation to Richardson's campaign manager, Amanda Cooper, who
couldn't be reached for comment. The Governor's Office announced this week
that Williams is being put on administrative leave while the state Personnel
Office investigates his relationship with Ann E. Casey, who registered as a
lobbyist for Aramark and Wexford Health Services, which provides health care
to New Mexico inmates. Casey is an assistant warden at an Illinois prison. A
copyrighted story in the Albuquerque Journal said Williams' state-issued
cell-phone records show 644 calls between Williams and Casey between Sept.
24, 2005, and Feb. 23. According to that report, Casey was hired as a
consultant by Aramark in 2005, but that contract has since been terminated.
Aramark's $5.4 million contract ends in July. The Secretary of State Office's
Lobbyist Index lists Casey as a lobbyist for Wexford, though the Journal
report quotes a Wexford official saying the company never hired her. In 2004,
a $10,000 contribution to a Richardson political committee from Wexford's
parent company caused a stir and later was returned to the Pittsburgh
company. The Bantry Group made the contribution to Richardson's Moving
America Forward PAC in April 2004. This was during a bidding process just a
month after the Corrections Department requested proposals for a contract to
provide health care and psychiatric services to inmates. That contract
potentially is worth more than $100 million, The Associated Press reported.
In August 2004, a Richardson spokesman said the money would be returned
"to avoid even the appearance of impropriety."

May 30, 2006 AP
Gov. Bill Richardson has put Corrections Secretary Joe Williams on unpaid
leave while the secretary's recent actions are investigated. Richardson said
the review will focus on Williams' use of a state-issued cell phone, a
state-funded trip that included some personal travel and his relationship
with a lobbyist. "Gov. Richardson wants a thorough investigation to
examine the secretary's actions and determine if anything improper
occurred," said James Jimenez, Richardson's chief of staff. "The
governor sets a very high ethical standard for his administration and will
not tolerate any level of abuse of authority or public trust." A
spokeswoman for the Corrections Department said Williams was unavailable for
comment. State Personnel Director Sandra Perez will conduct the investigation
through her office, Jimenez said. Williams will be on unpaid leave until June
9, the day Perez's office is to report to the governor. The Albuquerque
Journal reported Sunday that Williams spent about 91 hours on his
state-issued cell phone talking with Ann Casey, an assistant warden at a
state prison in Centralia, Ill. The calls between the two phones were placed
between Sept. 24, 2005, and Feb. 23, 2006. Casey registered as a lobbyist in
2005 for two companies that have contracts with New Mexico to provide health
care and meals to prisoners. Williams described his relationship with Casey
as a friendship and said he doesn't give preferential treatment to anybody.
Richardson also is questioning a trip Williams took to Nashville on the
state's dollar. In January, Williams attended a conference of the American
Correctional Association. His travel records show he added a St. Louis leg to
the trip, which he said was personal. A 30-mile drive from the St. Louis
airport would land Williams at an address in O'Falcon, Ill., which Casey
listed on lobbyist registration forms. Records show Williams wrote a check to
his department in January for $266, the cost of adding the St. Louis trip.
While on the trip, Williams and Casey accepted a dinner invitation from a
company that operates a state prison in Santa Rosa, according to Williams'
e-mail records. A billing statement for a hotel stay during the trip also
lists two people in his party, but Williams would not say who the second
person was. Richardson appointed Williams, a former warden at the Lea County
Correctional Facility in Hobbs and former warden at two state prisons, as
corrections secretary in 2003.

July 19, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
Some legislators on Monday said a proposed prison in Clayton would help that
town's economy, while others advocated different ways to add prison space in
New Mexico. Rep. Gail Beam, D-Albuquerque, suggested that lawmakers
consider expanding the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility near Santa Rosa
or the Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs. Both options would be
cheaper than running a 600-bed, medium-security prison in Clayton, according
to initial estimates from the state Corrections Department. The actual
operating cost may be lower, Williams said. Rep. Mimi Stewart,
D-Albuquerque, called on Williams to consider placing more criminals in community-based
corrections programs rather than prison, as allowed under state law.
"We're rushing to try to get people employed at another private prison
when we're not following our own statute," Stewart said at a hearing at
the United World College. Williams said he opposed the early release of
prisoners.

July 9 , 2004
Prison food is not supposed to taste great, but inmates in two
state-correction institutions said this week that their food had taken a turn
for the worse in recent days while inmates in a third facility staged a
widespread boycott of meals earlier this week. Only 44 of the 330
inmates at the minimum-security facility in Los Lunas showed up for
lunch Wednesday because of complaints about the food, Corrections Department
spokeswoman Tia Bland confirmed Thursday. "We've had nothing but
ground turkey for days," an inmate at the state prison in Las Cruces
told a reporter Thursday. "It's terrible. You can't eat some of this
stuff." Meanwhile, an inmate at the state prison in Grants said his
prison kitchen has been serving a soy-meat substitute, which he described as
tasting like cardboard . Under that new
contract, the company receives about 20 cents less for each meal
served. "That does change what is offered," Albert
said. (The New Mexican)

September 9, 2003
A flight from Virginia is set to arrive back in New Mexico late next week.
But its homecoming welcome will include shotguns, shackles and prison
vans. The New Mexico Corrections Department said Monday it plans to
return all but one of what it has labeled troublemaker inmates from
Virginia's super-maximum-security Wallens Ridge State Prison. The return will
end a controversial four-year stint in which problem prisoners were
transferred and housed in the lockup nearly 2,000 miles away. The
arrival of the 16 prisoners back in New Mexico is tentatively set for Sept.
19, state corrections spokeswoman Tia Bland said. "These inmates
are (those) that have gang ties, primarily. They're instigators. They start
trouble," Bland said. "We're ready for them."
Bland said the return of the inmates is favored by Gov. Bill Richardson, who
formed a series of teams earlier this year that looked at ways of cutting
costs across state government. Bland said bringing the prisoners home is
projected to save the state $671,000 over the next five years. Bland
said New Mexico pays $64 a day to house inmates at Wallens Ridge. It costs
about $12 a day more to house prisoners at the Penitentiary of New Mexico
outside of Santa Fe— this state's version of a "super max" where
the troublemakers will be sent. However, when things such as transporting the
prisoners from Virginia to New Mexico for court dates are eliminated, savings
will be achieved. The prisoners' security classifications also could be
lowered over time, requiring less expense in keeping them locked up.
Former corrections secretary Rob Perry began shuffling inmates to Wallens
Ridge just days after a deadly 1999 prison riot near Santa Rosa. But Perry's
replacement, Joe R. Williams, said Monday the New Mexico system can handle
its own problem prisoners. "At the beginning, it served its
purposes," Williams said of the transfers. But "we're capable of
running our own system. I don't see any cause for alarm or any potential
disruption because they're here." New Mexico sent 109 suspected
prison rioters to Wallens Ridge after the Aug. 31, 1999, riot at the
privately run Guadalupe County Correctional Facility near Santa Rosa. Guard
Ralph Garcia was killed in the uprising, and his alleged killers are now being
prosecuted. (ABQ Journal)

January 1, 2003
Santa Fe - Gov. -elect Bill Richardson filled out his cabinet Tuesday,
appointing a veteran prison warden to run the Corrections Department and a
longtime television journalist as head of the Labor Department. Joe
Williams, warden at a privately operated prison in Hobbs, was named
corrections secretary. Williams has been warden since 1999 of the Lea
County Correctional Facility, which is owned and operated by Wackenhut
Corrections Corp. Richardson said he wanted Williams, "someone
with the experience in both the public and private systems, to study
privatization of the corrections system and to give me his best advice on how
best to proceed long-term in corrections. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

November 25, 2002
The secretary of the state Corrections Department had ordered his staff not
to give any information to the transition team of Gov.-elect Bill Richardson
because at least two members of the team are suing the department. The
memo from Secretary Jim Burleson prompted Richardson spokesman to accuse
Burleson of putting up "roadblocks" to the transition
process. "A potential issue had arisen involving the newly
appointed Corrections Transition Team," Burleson's memo said.
"As such it is at this point that I must initiate a legal analysis of
potential conflicts." Santa Fe lawyer Mark Donatelli, who
co-chairs the transition team responsible for evaluating the CP, represents
six inmates suing the department over "cognitive restructuring," a
controversial lock-down program for problem inmates. One of his team
members is Lawrence Barreras, a former prison warden who was fired by
Johnson's administration in 1997. Barreras' lawsuit against the state
was thrown out by a district judge. The state court of appeals upheld
that decision in September. Barreras who more recently was warden at
Santa Fe County jail - told AP in September he would appeal. (Santa Fe
New Mexican.com)

October 7, 2000
The corrections Department exceeded its authority in giving a private prison
company a retroactive pay raise for jailing New Mexico prisoners. Assistant
Attorney General, Zachary Shandler said in an advisory letter to the
Legislative Finance Committee, "The Corrections Department has
contractual authority to provide only for prospective payment adjustments. It
does not have the authority to provide for retroactive payment
adjustments."

March 17, 2012 Albuquerque
Journal
The companies that operate private prisons where New Mexico state inmates
serve their time have racked up nearly $1.6 million in penalties for
understaffing and other contract violations since the Martinez administration
started cracking down last year. Nearly all of that was attributable to
problems at The GEO Group Inc.’s prison in Hobbs, although the company’s
Clayton prison was recently added to the penalty list. The Corrections
Corporation of America, which operates the women’s prison in Grants, also has
been fined during the past couple of months, mostly for having inmates in the
prison after their release dates. Reversing the practice of the previous
administration, Republican Gov. Susana Martinez decided to pursue the
penalties the state is entitled to impose for contract violations. “In
today’s struggling economy, the people of New Mexico deserve to know the
Corrections Department is running in a fiscally responsible manner,”
Corrections Secretary Gregg Marcantel said this week in a statement. The
department recently revived its Office of Inspector General to keep tabs on
contract compliance. Such fines are discretionary, and former Democratic Gov.
Bill Richardson’s administration gave private prisons a pass, irking
lawmakers who estimated that upwards of $18 million could have been
collected. Richardson’s corrections chief, Joe Williams – who claimed that
estimate was inflated – said that prisons already were paying substantial
overtime costs, that understaffing was largely due to factors beyond their
control, and that the facilities were safe and secure. Williams worked at
Hobbs for GEO’s predecessor company before Richardson hired him, and he
returned to GEO’s corporate offices in Boca Raton, Fla., at the end of
Richardson’s tenure. After negotiations with the Martinez administration, GEO
in January paid a $1.1 million fine for violations at the Lea County
Correctional Facility in Hobbs for the period from January through October of
2011. GEO also agreed to put another $200,000 into recruitment over the
subsequent year. GEO continued to be penalized: $158,529 for November,
$139,621 for December, $78,710 for January and $84,753 for February,
according to documents provided by the department. The February assessment
isn’t final yet, because the company has until late this month to respond to
it. The fines largely were due to vacancies in the ranks of correctional
officers and in noncustodial positions such as teachers, counselors and
treatment providers. Corrections officials have said it’s difficult for the
men’s medium security lockup at Hobbs to recruit and keep corrections
officers because it’s competing with the oil industry. An assessment of
$2,570 for understaffing in January was proposed for GEO’s Northeastern New
Mexico Detention Facility in Clayton, but the problem had been corrected by
the time the department sent a letter to the prison on Feb. 10, and no
penalty was assessed. In early March, however, the department notified the
Clayton prison that it would be fined $5,373 for February, for vacancies in
mandatory posts and for two inmates imprisoned beyond their release date.
That penalty is pending. GEO did not respond to requests from the Journal for
comment. The Corrections Corporation of America, which operates the New
Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants, was fined $11,779 for
January, and $9,974 for February – still pending – for an academic instructor
vacancy and for inmates held beyond their release dates. Inspector General
Shannon McReynolds said that occurs when the required parole plans aren’t
developed in a timely way.

November 20, 2011 Albuquerque
Journal
Joe Williams, who was the corrections secretary in the Richardson
administration, is back at work at the Florida-based private prison company
that he spared from paying millions of dollars in penalties for contract
violations. Williams is again employed by The GEO Group Inc., an
international firm he worked for before he was appointed by Gov. Bill
Richardson to head the New Mexico prison system. In New Mexico, GEO operates
prisons in Hobbs, Clayton and Santa Rosa that house inmates under contract
with the state Corrections Department. Williams came under scrutiny from New
Mexico legislators last year for his decision not to fine GEO and another
private prison operator for understaffing. A report by the Legislative
Finance Committee at the time said there were potentially millions of dollars
to be collected. The administration of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, who
took office in January, has decided to collect some penalties for this year.
Corrections Secretary Gregg Marcantel said last week that GEO has agreed to
pay $1.1 million for understaffing at the Hobbs prison during 2011 and to put
another $200,000 into recruitment. The fine will be deducted from what the
state pays the company to run the private prison. Williams headed the
Corrections Department for eight years, through 2010, under Richardson.
Before his appointment, he worked for GEO’s predecessor, Wackenhut Corrections
Corp., as warden of the Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs. Wackenhut
was renamed The GEO Group in 2003. GEO was a contributor to Richardson. It
reported giving $10,000 in 2004 to Moving America Forward, a Richardson
political committee. The company also pumped at least $43,750 into
Richardson’s 2006 gubernatorial re-election bid, according to campaign
finance data compiled by the National Institute on Money in State Politics.
And GEO officials and employees gave at least $10,750 in 2007 for
Richardson’s 2008 presidential campaign, according to data from the Center
for Responsive Politics. Richardson, a Democrat, has consistently maintained
that there was no connection between contributions to his political
committees and what happened in state government. Williams is working out of
GEO’s Boca Raton, Fla., headquarters, according to a listing of 2011
associate members of the Association of State Correctional Administrators. A
recent GEO publication identified him as the company’s director of operations
for U.S. corrections. A GEO spokesman last week refused to confirm Williams’
employment or title or provide other information. Pablo Paez said in an email
that the company’s policy is to not comment on employment matters. Williams
could not be reached for comment. Private prison contracts include required
staffing patterns and allow for penalties under certain circumstances — for
example, if more than 10 percent of correctional officer positions remain
vacant for more than 30 days. The Corrections Department headed by Williams
“has chosen not (to) enforce financial penalties for staffing patterns at the
private prisons, which is within the secretary’s discretion per the
contract,” the Legislative Finance Committee staff said in a September 2010 memo.
Based on limited monitoring information from the Corrections Department — and
assuming those vacancy trends existed for the previous four budget years —
the LFC staff estimated that about $18.6 million could have been collected
“if the department had chosen to enforce the contract.” Williams defended his
position in a letter to the interim Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee
two months later. He called the $18.6 million calculation “highly inflated”
and said it didn’t take into account the substantial overtime and other costs
paid by the prisons. He said Corrections Corporation of America, which runs
the women’s prison in Grants, could have been subject to vacancy penalties of
about $530,000 for the previous four years but had paid $2.7 million in overtime
during that period. GEO, he said, could have been subject to $4.3 million in
penalties for its three men’s prisons over the four years, but it paid $3.6
million in overtime to cover vacancies and another $1.5 million on
uncompensated inmate transportation. The Corrections Department “had no
legitimate basis for collecting any staffing penalties from GEO” during the
four-year period, Williams wrote. Williams also said that it was difficult to
recruit employees in the rural areas where the prisons are located and that
the Hobbs facility additionally “has to compete with the oil industry.”
“Because the private prisons are operating safely and securely, I have chosen
to exercise my executive power, as have all secretaries before me, not to
penalize the private prisons for staff vacancies caused by factors largely
beyond their or anyone else’s control,” Williams wrote in the November
letter. Williams had solicited GEO’s help with making his case a few months
earlier, urging company officials in an August letter to give him staffing
data as well as information about how much GEO paid in taxes and inmate
transportation and how much it had contributed to communities and schools.
“This information could help me defend my position” to lawmakers, Williams
wrote. Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque, an advisory member of the interim
Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, said it was never clear to him why
Williams didn’t impose penalties. But he criticized the movement of
employees, such as Williams, from the private sector to the public sector,
then back again, as a “built-in conflict of interest” that should be stopped.
“The people who go back and forth come out really well, but the taxpayers are
the ones who aren’t well-served,” McSorley said. Marcantel said the
department plans to look at all vendors, including CCA, to ensure compliance
with contracts.

November 14, 2011 Santa Fe New
Mexican
A Florida company will pay New Mexico $1.1 million in penalties for not
adequately staffing a private prison it operates in Hobbs, a state official
said. GEO Group, which manages three of New Mexico's four private prisons,
agreed to pay the settlement last week following a meeting between the
corrections agency and the company's top management, Corrections Secretary
Gregg Marcantel said Monday. "They've agreed on it," Marcantel said
of GEO. "It's a very fair way of doing it. They are not completely
happy. It needed to be done." Officials at GEO could not be reached for
comment Monday night. GEO will pay the $1.1 million over several months, the
corrections secretary said. In addition, GEO has agreed to spend $200,000
over the next calendar year to recruit new correctional officers for the
Hobbs facility. By contract, New Mexico can penalize The GEO Group and
Corrections Corp. of America, the two firms that operate the private
facilities, when staffing vacancies are at 10 percent or more for 30
consecutive days. The settlement represents the first time in years —
possibly ever — that New Mexico has penalized the out-of-state, for-profit
companies for not adequately staffing the facilities they operate. The issue
has come up in the past, but state officials said New Mexico had never levied
penalties for understaffing issues. The question surfaced in 2010 when state
lawmakers were struggling to find ways to close a yawning state budget gap.
At the time, the Legislature's budget arm, the Legislative Finance Committee,
estimated Gov. Bill Richardson's administration had skipped $18 million in
penalties by not assessing penalties against the two firms for inadequate
prison staffing levels. The $1.1 million covers understaffing by GEO at the
Hobbs facility for only this year and was reached after the state corrections
agency and GEO spent most of the summer disputing each other's methodology
for computing how much GEO should be penalized, state documents show.
Marcantel said he could not retroactively penalize the companies for previous
years, but could only go back to the first day of Gov. Susana Martinez's
tenure, Jan. 1. According to state records, of the four privately operated
prisons, Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs has struggled
the most to keep correctional officers on the job. The facility's vacancy
rate hovered above 20 percent for 12 of the 14 months for which there was
data — between January 2010 and March of this year. That includes seven
consecutive months — September 2010 through March 2011 — when the vacancy
rate was 25.24 percent, records showed. Going forward, the state will check
monthly to ensure the four privately operated prisons are adequately staffed,
Marcantel said. "Our new approach, it's not going to be waiting,"
Marcantel said. "That doesn't motivate" the companies to keep
staffing levels where they need to be, he added. GEO, headquartered in Boca
Raton, Fla., recently reported $1.2 billion in earnings and $58.8 million in
profit through the first nine months of this year, according to a Nov. 2
release by the company.

December 30, 2010 Albuquerque
Journal
The family of an inmate who sued the state prison health services provider
and three wardens claiming he failed to get treatment for colon cancer has
settled the lawsuit filed on his behalf. The inmate, Michael Crespin, died in
July 2008 at age 50 while the litigation was pending in U.S. District Court. The
lawsuit continued with a personal representative for the man's estate. The
amount of the settlement is confidential, and neither Crespin's attorneys nor
Wexford Health Sources Inc., a Pittsburgh-based corporation that describes
itself as "the nation's leading innovative correctional health care
company," had any comment on it. A stipulated motion to dismiss the
lawsuit was filed with the court Nov. 29. In court documents, Wexford denied
any wrongdoing, or that any actions by its employees constituted cruel and
unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, as
Crespin had claimed.

October 28, 2009 The New
Mexican
The state of New Mexico would have to shutter two prisons, give early
releases to up to 660 prisoners and lay off and
furlough Corrections Department employees if Gov. Bill Richardson signs
budget cuts approved by the Legislature, his office said Wednesday.
Richardson's office raised that grim possibility as his staff analyzes the
impact of $253 million in spending cuts legislators passed during a special
session last week to deal with a revenue shortfall. His administration on
Monday had said other cuts approved by the Legislature could mean the state
Human Services Department would reduce children's health care, nutrition
programs for seniors and programs for the developmentally disabled, if he
were to sign the measures. But lawmakers say they won't be blamed for
decisions that are now up to Richardson. "He wants it to seem like we're
making the decisions," said House Minority Whip Keith Gardner,
R-Roswell. "But he's making the calls where he wants to cut. He's making
that decision." The Corrections Department said that in order to meet
$21 million in budget cuts, it would have to close the Roswell Correctional
Center in Hagerman and the New Mexico Women's Correctional Facility in
Grants. About 270 inmates are incarcerated at the state-operated Roswell
facility, while about 590 are housed in the Grants facility, which is
operated by the Corrections Corporation of America. The state would have to
cancel its contract with the company.

January 19, 2009 Santa Fe New
Mexican
A director of a foundation established by Gov. Bill Richardson — which
collected more than $1.7 million from undisclosed contributors — once worked
as a lobbyist for a corporation that manages private prisons for the state.
Joe Velasquez, a former senior adviser for Richardson's presidential
campaign, in 2006 was a registered lobbyist in the state for GEO Care Inc.,
which at the time managed the troubled 230-bed Fort Bayard Medical Center
east of Silver City. GEO Care is part of a private prison corporation that
runs several New Mexico prisons and which has contributed tens of thousands
of dollars to Richardson's campaigns and other political activities. GEO
discontinued the Fort Bayard contract last year by mutual agreement with the
state. Velasquez was one of several members of Richardson's political team
listed as a director of the Moving America Forward Foundation, which was
formed as a public charity more than four years ago, about the same time
Richardson started a similarly named political action committee, Moving
America Forward. Both had the stated goal of increasing voter participation
among Hispanics and Native Americans. Word of the foundation's fundraising
efforts comes during an ongoing federal pay-to-play investigation that
derailed Richardson's nomination for U.S. Commerce secretary. His
administration also has been accused by a former state investment official —
described by a Richardson spokesman as a "disgruntled former employee''
— of applying political pressure in investments by the State Investment
Council and the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board. Unlike the Moving
America Forward PAC, the foundation legally does not have to list individual
contributors or expenditures. However, the director of New Mexico Foundation
for Open Government said Monday that it would be wise for the foundation to
disclose its donors. "There's two stories now —
what the foundation was doing and the secrecy story," Leonard DeLayo Jr.
said. In cases like this, the "secrecy story" usually is worse than
the actual facts of who contributed and where the money was spent, he said.
On Monday, the chairman of the state Republican Party called upon Democrat
Richardson to disclose the donors. "Bill Richardson and his campaign
workers are fighting to keep the identity of their donors secret, and New
Mexicans want to know why," Harvey Yates said in a written statement.
"Richardson can't pretend to support ethics reform in the state
legislature while refusing to disclose his own financial contributors. ... At
a minimum, Gov. Richardson should disclose any and all donors who have ever
received New Mexico state contracts. That's the biggest question. Scandal is
epidemic in New Mexico politics right now. Sunshine is more important than
ever." Asked whether Richardson thought it would be a good political
move to disclose the contributors, spokesman Gilbert Gallegos replied in an
e-mail, "I am not familiar with details of the Foundation or its donors
as it was not related to state government and it did not do work in the state
of New Mexico." A copyrighted story in The Albuquerque Journal said
Velasquez, when asked about his role in the foundation, said, "I had
nothing to do with the foundation. I ran the MAF (Moving America Forward)
Committee." He couldn't be reached for comment Monday. The GEO Group
contributed $43,750 to Richardson's 2006 re-election campaign. Two other GEO
lobbyists registered in the state contributed a total of $7,500 to
Richardson's 2006 race. And while Richardson was chairman of the Democratic
Governor's Association, GEO kicked in $30,000 to that organization (though it
contributed more than $90,000 to the Republican Governor's Association during
those years). GEO and its board chairman George Zoley kicked in another
$15,000 for Richardson's 2007 inauguration. The company's political action
committee and GEO executives contributed a total of $16,500 to Richardson's
presidential campaign. Richardson spokesmen have repeatedly denied any link
between GEO's contributions and the company's lucrative business with New
Mexico. In 2006, the contracts were estimated at $38 million. Since then, GEO
began managing the new prison in Clayton. According to the Secretary of State's
Office lobbyist index, GEO has no registered lobbyists in the state.

July 12, 2008 Santa Fe New
Mexican
Back in 2002, when Democrat Bill Richardson was running for his first term as
governor, the company then known as Wackenhut, which ran two private prisons
in New Mexico, donated $1,000 to his Republican opponent, John Sanchez — and
nothing to Richardson. Things have changed. According to The Institute of
Money in State Politics, in 2006 The GEO Group, which is the name Wackenhut
now goes by, contributed $43,750 to Richardson's re-election campaign. In
fact, Richardson, by a wide margin, received more money from GEO than any
other politician nationwide running for state office in 2006. In contrast,
Charlie Crist, governor of Florida, where GEO is headquartered, received only
$1,500 from GEO. (Florida, unlike New Mexico, has campaign contribution
limits.) And it dwarfs the money that the company contributed to former Gov.
Gary Johnson, who first brought Wackenhut to the state. Johnson's 1998
re-election campaign received a total of $9,000 from Wackenhut and its chief
executive officer, Wayne Calabrese. But that's not the last of the GEO money
Richardson has received. According to the OpenSecrets.org database, which
tracks contributions to federal races, the corporation's PAC donated $7,000
to Richardson's presidential campaign (which refunded $2,000 in February
after his campaign folded.) Again, Richardson was GEO's favorite candidate.
GEO's PAC gave only $5,000 each to the campaigns of Hillary Clinton, John
McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee. Richardson's presidential campaign
received another $9,500 from GEO executives. The only other candidate to
receive any money from GEO employees is Barack Obama, who has received a
total of $2,000 — all of which came only after Richardson dropped out of the
race. Because New Mexico's disclosure laws don't require that campaign
contributors identify the companies they work for, it's difficult to identify
GEO employees who have contributed to state races. But two GEO lobbyists
registered in the state contributed. Jorge Dominicis gave $2,500 to the
governor's 2006 re-election, while Diane Houston contributed $5,000 to
Richardson's 2006 race. And while Richardson was chairman of the Democratic
Governor's Association, GEO kicked in $30,000 to that organization (though it
contributed more than $90,000 to the Republican Governor's Association.)
Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said last week that campaign
contributions have nothing to do with GEO's presence in the state. Asked
whether the governor is proud of being the top recipient of campaign funds
from a private prison company, Gallegos said the question is "ludicrous
and not worth addressing." Richardson is not the only New Mexico
politician to get money from GEO. In fact, only one state received more GEO
campaign money than New Mexico in 2006. That's the company's home state of
Florida, where GEO contributed $395,925. All but about $20,000 of that went
to political parties (with Republicans getting about 85 percent of the
contributions). In 2006, GEO gave $66,450 to New Mexico state candidates
other than Richardson. In state races, the company gave $20,000 to the
Democratic primary campaign of attorney general candidate (and Richardson
protégé) Geno Zamora; $10,000 to Gary King, who beat Zamora in the primary;
$2,500 to King's Republican opponent, Jim Bibb; $8,000 to Lt. Gov. Diane
Denish; and $2,500 to State Auditor Hector Balderas. In New Mexico federal
races this year, GEO has given $2,300 to Ben Ray Luján's 3rd Congressional
District race and $1,000 to 2nd Congressional District Democratic candidate
Harry Teague. The company contributed $2,500 to Michelle Lujan Grisham's
unsuccessful congressional campaign in October, but the campaign refunded the
contribution in March. Grisham, a former state Health Department secretary,
said last week that it wasn't GEO's prison contracts that concerned her as
much as the company's $3.5 million contract to run the long-troubled Fort
Bayard Medical Center, a state nursing home near Silver City. GEO terminated
the contract last month. The federal government decertified the facility
earlier this year after inspectors found problems with infection control,
food preparation and response to reports of abuse. In 2006, GEO's PAC gave congressional
candidate Patricia Madrid $10,000 and U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman $1,000.
Campaign contributions aren't the only way the company has helped New Mexico
politicians. In 1998, Wackenhut hired then state Senate President Pro Tem
Manny Aragon as a "consultant." Aragon ended his Wackenhut
employment after receiving intense criticism from both parties. While GEO is
the private prison company that gives the most to New Mexico candidates, it's
not the only one. The PAC for Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of
America — which runs the New Mexico Women's Correctional Facility in Grants
as well as county jails in Cibola and Torrance counties — gave $5,000 to
Richardson's presidential campaign last September. He was the only Democrat
to get money from the CCA, which also gave $5,000 each to Republicans McCain
and Fred Thompson. Richardson also received $1,000 from Jimmy Turner, a CCA
vice president. CCA also gave congressional candidate Ben Ray Luján $1,000 in
March. In 2006, CCA gave $1,000 to Heather Wilson's 1st Congressional
District campaign. In 2006, CCA gave New Mexico politicians a total of
$18,700, $5,000 of which went to Richardson. Eighty percent of CCA's New
Mexico contributions went to Democrats. Prison services contractors also
contribute to politicians in the state. Aramark Corp., which has a contract
with the state to provide food for prisons, gave $25,000 for Richardson's
last race for governor and $30,000 for his running mate, Denish. Last year,
the corporation gave Richardson $5,000 for his presidential race. (Aramark
contributed $6,850 to Clinton.) The Bantry Group, the Pittsburgh-based parent
company of Wexford Health Sources, which the state contracted to deliver
prison medical services, contributed $10,000 to Richardson's gubernatorial race
in 2006. Wexford Health CEO Kevin Halloran gave Richardson another $10,000 in
2005. Ironically, in 2004 Richardson returned a $10,000 donation from Bantry
to his PAC, Moving America Forward, because, a spokesman said, the
contribution was made while Wexford was being considered for the state
contract. The contribution was returned "to avoid even the appearance of
impropriety," the spokesman said. Wexford's contract was terminated in
2007 after a Legislative Finance Committee audit found serious problems with
its performance delivering health care to inmates.

November 2, 2007 AP
Democratic presidential candidate and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has tapped into a pipeline of campaign cash from those who
lobby government in his home state. Critics say the contributions raise
questions about whether Richardson has used his leverage as governor to help
fund his presidential aspirations, and whether his presidential campaign has
become another avenue for state lobbyists to curry favor. Richardson,
however, maintains that campaign contributions don't influence him.
"There's no connection between donations and what happens in state
government. That's always been an established principle," Richardson
said at a recent news conference. Richardson has collected about $167,000
from lobbyists registered in the state and nearly $403,000 from executives
and employees of companies and organizations represented by lobbyists during
the first nine months of the year, according to a review of campaign finance
reports by The Associated Press. Richardson also received $22,000 from
political action committees affiliated with companies and organizations with
lobbyists in New Mexico. The combined contributions from state lobbyists and
their clients account for 3 percent of the $18.5 million in total
contributions received by the Richardson campaign through September. "It
clearly has the appearance of a conflict of interest," said Ben Luce of
Santa Fe, a clean energy advocate who had a falling out with the Richardson
administration this year and has formed a group to fight what he views as
undue corporate influence over policymaking in the state. "There appears
to be a pay-to-play situation occurring because people who do make
significant donations seem to be the ones getting favors, either contracts or
favorable legislation." Another big source of campaign money has been
state workers who have contributed at least $468,000 - more than any other
group of individuals when totaled by their employer. Richardson also has
received at least $89,000 from federal lobbyists and lobbyists from outside
of New Mexico, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Among the
contributions to Richardson: - About $30,400 from executives and a state
lobbyist for the media and entertainment company, Lionsgate. The state offers
tax incentives and interest-free loans for films shot in New Mexico.
Lionsgate has done several productions in the state and the company is
planning a studio near Albuquerque. - Nearly $25,000 from executives,
officers and state lobbyists for ValueOptions, which has a contract to manage
mental health and substance abuse services for the state. The chairman of the
company, Ron Dozoretz, and his wife, Beth, each contributed the maximum
amount of $4,600 to Richardson and hosted a fundraiser for him earlier this
year. They are friends of Richardson, according to a campaign spokesman. The
Virginia-based company won the state contract in 2005 after a competitive
bidding process. - About $19,700 from executives, lobbyists and a PAC of the
state's largest electric utility, Public Service Company of New Mexico.
Richardson used one of the utility's lobbyists as an on-loan staffer during
this year's legislative session. The lobbyist didn't receive a state salary
and remained on the utility's payroll while he worked in the governor's
office from mid-November until April. However, the arrangement didn't violate
any laws, according to the state's attorney general. - About $16,000 came
from executives, a state lobbyist and a political action committee affiliated
with the GEO Group Inc., which was paid $41 million by the state last year
for housing inmates in its privately operated prisons in New Mexico. The
state started using the Florida-based company's prisons before Richardson
took office. However, another GEO-operated prison is under construction and
the state plans to house inmates in it. The Richardson administration
contracted with the company in 2005 to manage a long-term care and
rehabilitation medical center. Several presidential candidates have blamed
the influence of lobbyists and corporate interests for a lack of progress on
health care and other issues in Washington.

August 24, 2007 AP
The Albuquerque businessman implicated in a courthouse construction scheme
that cost taxpayers more than $4 million has worked on public projects around
New Mexico for years. Michael Murphy, 58, was indicted by a federal grand
jury Thursday on charges of conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering for
his alleged role in a scheme that used inflated contracts and change orders
to skim money from the construction of the $83 million Bernalillo County
Metropolitan Courthouse. The Albuquerque Journal reported in a copyright
story published Friday that Murphy had powerful friends, including former
state Sen. Manny Aragon, who is also charged in the courthouse scandal.
Murphy bought a home from Aragon last year. Murphy's work includes the
Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center, renovations to the downtown
jail, the Metropolitan Courthouse and a student center at Highlands
University in northern New Mexico. In 2004, Bernalillo County signed another
contract with Murphy's company for "construction administration services
as needed." The deal, which expires in 2008, allows Murphy's Public
Private Projects Inc. to work on a variety of county projects. His company
has been paid about $1.1 million altogether for its work on the county jails
and other county projects. Murphy, who once served on the board of the
Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority, had his beginning in
the 1970s in the homebuilding industry. He went on to work for high profile
clients, including private prison operator Wackenhut Corrections Corp.

May 24, 2007 The New Mexican
New Mexico pays significantly more than nearby states to house inmates in
private prisons, according to a report presented Wednesday to state
lawmakers. The 100-page audit by a Legislative Finance Committee review team
says New Mexico's private-prison spending rose 57 percent in the past six
years, while the inmate population increased only 21 percent. "Business
decisions across two administrations may result in New Mexico paying an
estimated $34 million more than it should pay for private prison construction
costs," the report says. But Corrections Secretary Joe Williams defended
the private prisons, saying the higher operating costs are justified. The
major private prison operator in the state is The GEO Group, which operates
facilities in Hobbs and Santa Rosa and will operate a prison being built in
Clayton. GEO, formerly known as Wackenhut, was brought in to manage private
prisons by former Gov. Gary Johnson and has been embraced by Gov. Bill
Richardson. New Mexico pays nearly $69 a day per inmate at the private prison
in Hobbs and more than $70 at the prison in Santa Rosa. In Texas, the cost is
$34.66 a day. Colorado pays $50.28 a day for inmates at private prisons. In
Oklahoma, the rate is $41.23. Other states listed in the study include Idaho,
$42.30, and Montana, $54.58. The LFC recommends New Mexico restructure its
contracts with GEO for the existing facilities.

May 23, 2007 KOAT TV
Target 7 has uncovered a state report that said New Mexico's Corrections
Department costs taxpayers millions more than it should. The investigation
began more than a year ago, Action 7 News reported. Target 7 looked into the
relationship between the state corrections department and the GEO Group, a
private company that runs two state prisons with another one in the works.
The lease to run a third prison is a central part of an audit released on
Wednesday, that said while New Mexico's prisons are doing better than in the
past, the state is paying too much for what it gets. The audit also found the
corrections department is overpaying for private prison costs and for health
care. But the state is in the process of negotiating with a new company for
prison health care. The audit highlights the state's lease agreement to put
inmates in a new prison in Clayton, N.M. The state's lease with GEO Group
pays not just for prisoners but also for the cost to build the prison. The
audit said the department would pay $132 million, nearly twice the cost of
construction. That's because the deal was done last fall, just weeks before
New Mexicans voted to let the state lease with an option to buy. The lease is
just a small part of the audit, but it's a sign the legislature may be
keeping a closer eye on the business of New Mexico's prisons. Secretary Joe
Williams takes issue with the report, but he said there are positive
suggestions in it. The department plans to sit down with some of the private
companies running half of New Mexico's prisons to talk about restructuring
lease agreements.

March 30, 2007 AP
Manny Aragon ran the Senate for more than a decade as its top leader and the
Albuquerque Democrat reigned as one of the most powerful political figures in
New Mexico. However, his political legacy was clouded Thursday by federal
indictments alleging that he received $700,000 in payoffs as part of a
conspiracy with others to inflate contracts in the construction of an
Albuquerque courthouse that the state helped finance. The payments allegedly
were made to Aragon while he served in the Senate as well as after he
resigned in mid-2004 to become president of New Mexico Highlands University.
Aragon, a lawyer, was charged with 14 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud and
money laundering in the federal investigation of corruption in the
construction of the $83 million Metropolitan court building and a parking
garage. Prosecutors allege that Aragon helped obtain financing for the
project and received payments from contractors. The indictment contends that
Aragon played a role in selecting contractors and subcontractors. Aragon, who
turned 60 last week, did not immediately return a telephone message seeking
comment. The federal charges against the high-profile Democrat were announced
as the Senate was meeting in a special session. Rumors that indictments were
imminent swirled throughout the Capitol in the hours before prosecutors
disclosed the charges against Aragon and three others. In addition, three
people — including a well-known lobbyist and former Albuquerque mayor —
entered guilty pleas in the corruption case. Sen. Tim Jennings, D-Roswell,
who served with Aragon for 25 years, said, "I certainly hope it's not
true, but the indictment looks very damaging." Jennings cautioned that
the indictment represents just "one side" and only the information
supplied by prosecutors. But he said, "It's a sad day, if it happens to
be true." The indictment of Aragon could increase pressure on lawmakers
to revamp New Mexico's ethics laws. The state, for example, requires very
limited disclosures by legislators and other elected officials of their
finances, such as assets and liabilities. Five counts against Aragon involve
transfers of more than $400,000 to a bank and another company. Chris Atencio,
the acting executive director of the Republican Party of New Mexico, said,
"It's tangible evidence that the cancer of
public corruption has existed far too long in New Mexico. As was widely
suspected, it involved some elected officials. Today's actions are long
overdue." The indictments on Thursday represent the second large federal
corruption prosecution in two years. Former state treasurer Robert Vigil was
arrested in 2005 and convicted last year of attempted extortion. His
predecessor, Michael Montoya, pleaded guilty to extortion in a kickback
scheme involving state investments. Aragon served as Senate president pro tem
from 1988 until 2001, when he was ousted when three Democrats joined with
Republicans to remove him from the chamber's top leadership post. However,
Aragon reclaimed a leadership job 10 months later when Senate Democrats named
him majority floor leader. He left the Senate in mid-2004 to become president
of New Mexico Highlands University. His tenure at the university — like his
years as Senate leader — were marked by controversy
because of his autocratic style. The school paid Aragon $200,000 to buy out
his contract last year. Aragon drew criticism for his rocky relationship with
faculty, his failure to clear major contracts with the board of regents and a
president's fund that allowed Aragon to spend money at his discretion. In the
Senate, Aragon was known for his extensive knowledge of the state budget — he
was a key architect of the yearly spending blueprint to finance government
operations — and his bare-knuckled leadership style in pushing through
favored bills. Former Gov. Gary Johnson, a Republican who fought with Aragon
and other Democrats throughout his eight years in office, once described
Aragon as a tyrant. Aragon faced ethics questions in the late 1990s when he
became a paid consultant to a private prison company that did business the
state. He resigned from the position in 1999, but maintained he had no
conflict of interest in dealing with prison issues in the Legislature because
his work for the company, then known as Wackenhut Corrections Corp., involved
matters outside of New Mexico.

March 15, 2007 AP
Gov. Bill Richardson signed into law on Thursday a $5.6 billion budget to pay
for public education and general government operations next year, but used
his veto powers to trim some spending. The budget provides for a nearly 11
percent increase in spending in the fiscal year that starts July 1. The
governor trimmed about $57 million in total spending from the bill. Of that,
about $28 million was from the main budget account for ongoing programs and
agency operations and slightly more than $3 million was for one-time spending
projects. Among other vetoes: _$250,000 for salary increases at privately
operating prisons in Hobbs and Santa Rosa used by the state to house male
inmates and a private prison in Grants for women inmates.

January 13, 2007 The New
Mexican
New Mexico's use of jails run by companies is the highest in the country --
and rising -- but do they live up to their promises? New Mexico leads the
nation on another list: We're No. 1 in using private prisons to house
inmates. The latest U.S. Justice Department statistics, published in a study
called Prisons in 2005, showed 43 percent of New Mexico prisoners were in
private lockups. That's well ahead of the 6 percent national rate for
privately held state prison inmates. And the percentage in New Mexico is
bound to rise even higher in the near future. Cells built during a spurt of
prison construction under the previous state administration have become
crowded, and the state Corrections Department next year plans to add 240 beds
to the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility near Santa Rosa. By the end of
2008, a planned 600-bed private prison is scheduled to open in Clayton. Most
of the prisoners in that facility will be state inmates, corrections
officials say. The operator for both of these prisons is The GEO Group,
formerly known as Wackenhut. The Camino Nuevo Correctional Center in
Albuquerque -- operated by Correction Corporation of America -- opened in
July. The minimum-security Springer Correctional Center, scheduled to open
early this year, will be operated by the state. It will house up to 220
inmates. This year, the department is asking the Legislature for an
additional $37.2 million, primarily for inmate population growth, Corrections
Department spokeswoman Tia Bland said. The department's current general fund
budget is $240.7 million. While New Mexico leads the pack, it's not alone in
the prison privatization trend. Nationwide in 2005, the percentage of inmates
in private facilities rose by 8.8 percent. Santa Fe lawyer Mark Donatelli, a
longtime opponent of prison privatization, contends not much good has come
from depending on private operators. ``I think of the trail of lawsuits we've
been inundated with -- Wackenhut, Cornell, MGC,'' he said, listing companies
that have done business in the state. Governments, Donatelli said, were
``lured in with the promise of indemnification.'' While nobody ever promised
an end to lawsuits over prison violence and other alleged wrongs, Donatelli
said, privatization ``was supposed to get cities and states off the hook. But
it hasn't worked out that way. Insurance companies still end up paying, but
government officials still find themselves spending time at depositions and
trials. And the government is still held accountable in the public eye.
Privatization was supposed to wash the stench of prisons off the government.
But the stench is still there.'' Letting private companies run correctional
facilities means the government ends up with fewer experts qualified to
monitor jails and prisons, Donatelli said. ``Look at how (Santa Fe County) is
struggling,'' Donatelli said. For about 20 years, the county paid private
contractors to operate its jail. In October 2005, after the last private firm
ended its contract, county officials decided not to seek a new operator. Two
months ago, the jail had a management shake-up. Cost questions. When asked
about New Mexico's reliance on private prisons, Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman
for Gov. Bill Richardson, noted Richardson ``inherited all of the existing
private prisons.'' The state started using private corrections companies
under Richardson's predecessor, Gary Johnson, a Republican advocate of
privatizing government functions. In the mid-1990s, Wackenhut was contracted
to build and run private prisons in Hobbs and Santa Rosa. Gallegos also said
GEO and other current private prison contractors have done a good job under
Richardson's watch, and thus the governor endorsed the new facility in
Clayton -- a GEO project -- as well as expansion of the Santa Rosa prison.
``The governor would rather spend one-time capital funding on schools and
other priorities,'' Gallegos said. ``Private contracts allow the state to
lease prison space without burdening taxpayers with the upfront costs of
building new prisons.'' But do private prisons actually save the state money,
as advocates insist? That's the subject of an ongoing debate, a question that
hasn't been settled after 12 years. Efforts to reach spokesmen for GEO were
unsuccessful, but the company claims on its Web site that it saves
governments money in prison design and construction. ``The traditional governmental
method of linear and time-consuming contracts for the design and then the
construction of a facility is thrown out in favor of a fast-track,
design-build approach backed by a fully guaranteed, firm, fixed-fee
contract,'' the Web site says. Private prisons, GEO says, also save money by
``designing out staffing redundancies'' and ``elimination of employee sick
time and overtime abuses.'' But analysts at the Legislative Finance Committee
point out an independent board of inquiry that studied private prisons
following the slaying of a prison guard in the Santa Rosa prison was unable
to answer the question of whether private prisons save money. Comparing costs
of private and state-operated prisons is complicated by the fact that all New
Mexico's maximum-security inmates -- who cost more to house because of the
need for constant supervision -- are only in state-run facilities. One
Legislative Finance Committee analyst, who asked not to be named, said
relying too much on private prisons has meant the state has gotten away from
planning to deal with capacity problems. ``When they get overcrowded, the
private companies come along and say, `We'll take care of it for you,' '' the
analyst said. The Legislative Finance Committee recently started an audit of
prisons to see how much, if any, money is being saved. Political cash.
Although Donatelli doesn't like private prisons, he quipped they have a
silver lining: ``There's one group that's really benefited from private
prison, and that's the politicians who've gotten enormous campaign
contributions from the private prison companies.'' Although the Governor's
Office has long insisted no connection exists, GEO, which still has the
lion's share of private prisons in New Mexico, has become a big player in
campaign contributions for New Mexico politicians. In this past election
cycle, the GEO Group contributed about $80,000 to candidates running for
state office in New Mexico. The biggest beneficiary was Gov. Bill Richardson,
who has collected $42,750 from the company since 2005. According to The
Institute of Money in State Politics, Richardson received more money from GEO
than any other politician nationwide running for state office in 2006. GEO
even was listed among sponsors in the program of Richardson's recent inauguration.
The company donated between $5,000 and $10,000 for the event, said
Richardson's campaign manager, Amanda Cooper. In addition, GEO this year
donated $30,000 to the Democratic Governors Association, which until recently
Richardson headed -- although the company contributed $95,000 to the
Republican Governors Association last year. GEO also has given $8,000 to
Richardson's running mate, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, in the current election
cycle. Denish got $500 from the company in the 2002 election cycle. The state
pays GEO about $38 million a year -- about $25 million to run the Hobbs
prison and $13 million for the prison in Santa Rosa. The Clayton prison will
have about the same number of beds as the one in Santa Rosa. Also, the state
awarded a GEO subsidiary a contract last year to manage the troubled, 230-bed
Fort Bayard Medical Center east of Silver City and to build a $30 million
replacement hospital with the help of tax-exempt bonds.

December 13, 2006 Santa Fe
Reporter
After two troubled years of administering health care in New Mexico’s
prisons, Wexford Health Sources will lose its multimillion-dollar contract
with the state. Wexford has been the subject of a five-month investigative
series by this paper. Now, SFR has learned that on Dec. 8, Gov. Bill
Richardson ordered the New Mexico Corrections Department (NCMD) to
immediately begin the search for a new health care provider. “The governor
has directed the Corrections Department to develop and implement immediate
and long-term options for improving health care quality at the state’s
correctional facilities,” Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos says. “Those
options are expected to include sanctions and seeking another provider—which
basically means the Corrections Department will be crafting a request for
proposal [RFP] to solicit a new vendor. They’re working out the terms of the
RFP now and will most likely be terminating the contract with Wexford.”
Wexford’s contract expires in June 2007, Gallegos says. SFR has repeatedly
and exclusively published allegations by current and former Wexford employees
regarding inmate care [Cover story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. Those accounts
focused on dangerously low medical staffing levels at the nine correctional
facilities where Wexford operates; Wexford’s refusal to grant chronically ill
inmates critical, off-site specialty care; and systemic problems in
administering prescription medicine to inmates. Gallegos says the governor
learned about the problems with Wexford through SFR’s stories. “The governor
had been concerned about the quality of care delivered in the correctional
facilities and directed the Corrections Department to increase oversight of
Wexford,” Gallegos says. “Corrections was doing
that, but it appeared that many of those deficiencies were not being
corrected.” Wexford, which also administers health care in facilities run by
the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD), will lose
those operations as well, Gallegos says. Wexford began working in New Mexico
in July 2004, after signing a $27 million contract with NMCD. The
Pittsburgh-based company has also lost contracts in Wyoming and Florida
because of similar concerns over health care. SFR also learned this week that
Dr. Phillip Breen, Wexford’s regional medical director in New Mexico, has
resigned, effective Dec. 31. In addition, a dentist at a state prison in
Hobbs tells SFR that facility is so understaffed that inmates sometimes wait
up to six weeks to receive important dental care. Dr. Ray Puckett, who has
been working as a part-time dentist at Lea County Correctional Facility
(LCCF) in Hobbs for approximately one year, alleges that some inmates are
suffering because the backlog to receive dental treatment is so massive.
“I’ve heard about inmates pulling their own teeth after months and months.
I’ve heard about inmates saying, ‘I just can’t stand it anymore,’” he says.
Puckett says Wexford should have hired a full-time dentist at LCCF because so
many inmates require medical attention to take care of abscesses, cavities,
tooth extractions and other painful dental problems. Puckett works at the
facility only one day a week, during which he typically sees up to 16
patients. He says that Wexford also has another dentist who will occasionally
work one day a week at the facility. “What we have now is a poorly run
operation. It’s grossly understaffed and disorganized. And it ends up being
unfortunate for the inmates,” Puckett says. Wexford Vice President Elaine
Gedman did not respond to e-mails and phone calls from SFR. Corrections
spokeswoman Tia Bland says NMCD is not aware of a backlog of dental patients
at LCCF, but will look into it. She adds that Wexford is only required to
have a dentist at LCCF for two days a week. With regard to the governor’s
action against Wexford, Bland says: “It’s a fact. Wexford has not met its
contractual obligations to the Department, and that’s something we can’t
ignore. We have to do something about it. We will be putting a plan in
place.” In the coming year, both Wexford and NMCD are slated for an extensive
audit by the Legislative Finance Committee. The audit was the result of a
hearing on Wexford by the Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice
Committee in October. The hearings also were held in response to reports in
this paper [Outtakes, Oct. 25: “Medical Test”]. It’s now unclear whether the
audit will still take place. As for Puckett, he has considered leaving his
post because of what’s happening at LCCF. A veteran of correctional health
care, he also worked for Wexford’s predecessors, Addus HealthCare and
Correctional Medical Services. In his estimation, both companies, which
operate to make a profit like Wexford, cared more about the inmates’ physical
well-being and were willing to sacrifice dollars to ensure that medical
problems were treated expeditiously. Says Puckett: “It is my sense that
Wexford doesn’t care what sort of facility they run. Everything is run on a
bare-bones budget. They’re in it to make money.” Not anymore. When asked
whether there was any chance at all that Wexford could remain in its current
capacity at NMCD or CYFD, Richardson spokesman Gallegos responded: “They’re
done. The governor’s intention is to replace Wexford with a new company. We
expect to have a new provider in a reasonable amount of time.”

November 22, 2006 Santa Fe
Reporter
The medical director of a state prison in Hobbs has stepped down from his
post less than a month after a legislative committee requested an audit of
the corrections health care in the state. Dr. Don Apodaca, medical director
of Lea County Correctional Facility (LCCF), turned in his resignation on Nov.
6 due to concerns that inmates there are not receiving sufficient access to
health care. According to Apodaca, sick inmates are routinely denied off-site
visits to medical specialists and sometimes have to wait months to receive
critical prescription drugs. Apodaca blames the policies of Wexford Health
Sources, the private company that contracts with the state to provide
medicine in New Mexico’s prisons, for these alleged problems. Wexford has
been the subject of a four-month SFR investigation, during which a growing
number of former and current employees have contended that Wexford is more
concerned with saving money than providing adequate health care, and that
inmates suffer as a result. On Oct. 24, the Legislative Finance Committee
(LFC) tentatively approved an audit that will assess Wexford’s contract with
the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) and also evaluate the quality of
health care rendered to inmates [Outtakes, Nov. 8: “Prison Audit Ahead”].
LCCF’s medical director since January 2006, Apodaca is one of the
highest-ranking ex-Wexford employees to come forward thus far. His
allegations of Wexford’s denials of off-site care and the delays in obtaining
prescription drugs echo those raised by other former and current employees
during the course of reporting for this series [Cover story, Aug. 9: “Hard
Cell?”]. Specifically, Apodaca says he personally evaluated inmates who
needed off-site, specialty care, but that Wexford consistently denied his
referrals. Apodaca cites the cases of an inmate who needed an MRI, another
inmate who suffered from a hernia and a third inmate who had a cartilage tear
in his knee as instances in which inmates were denied off-site care for
significant periods of time against his recommendations. When inmates are
actually cleared for off-site care in Albuquerque, they are transported in
full shackles without access to a bathroom for the six- to seven-hour trip,
Apodaca says. “Inmates told me they aren’t allowed to go to the bathroom and
ended up soiling themselves,” he says. “The trip is so bad they end up
refusing to go even when we get the off-site visits approved.” When it comes
to prescription drugs, there also are significant delays, Apodaca says.
Inmates sometimes wait weeks or even months for medicine used for heart and
blood pressure conditions, even though Apodaca says he would write orders for
those medicines repeatedly. “Wexford was not providing timely treatment and
diagnoses of inmates,” he says. “There were tragic cases where patients
slipped through the cracks, were not seen for inordinately long times and
suffered serious or fatal consequences.” Apodaca says he began documenting
the medical problems at the facility in March. After detailing in writing the
cases of 40 to 50 patients whom he felt had not received proper clinical
care, Apodaca says he alerted Dr. Phillip Breen, Wexford’s regional medical
director, and Cliff Phillips, Wexford’s regional health services administrator,
through memos, e-mails and phone calls. In addition, Apodaca says he alerted
Wexford’s corporate office in Pittsburgh. Neither Breen nor Phillips returned
phone messages left by SFR. Apodaca says he also informed Devendra Singh,
NMCD’s quality assurance manager for health services. According to Apodaca,
Singh assured him that he would require Wexford to look into the matter, but
Apodaca says he never heard a final response. “Wexford was simply not
receptive to any of the information I was sending them, and I became
exasperated,” he says. “It came to the point where I felt uncomfortable with
the medical and legal position I was in. There were individuals who needed
health care who weren’t getting it.” Singh referred all questions to NMCD
spokeswoman Tia Bland; Bland responded to SFR in a Nov. 20 e-mail:
“If Don Apodaca has information involving specific incidents, we will be
happy to look into the situation. Otherwise, we will wait for the LFC’s audit
results, review them and take it from there.” Wexford Vice President Elaine
Gedman would not comment specifically on Apodaca’s allegations. In a Nov. 20
e-mail to SFR, she wrote that Wexford will cooperate with the Legislature’s
audit and is confident the outcome will be similar to the 14 independent
audits performed since May 2005 by national correctional organizations.
“Wexford is proud of the service we have provided to the Corrections
Department as documented in these independent audits and looks forward to
continuing to provide high quality health care services in New Mexico,”
Gedman writes. Members of the Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice
Committee, which requested the forthcoming audit, toured LCCF on Oct. 19 and
were told by both Wexford and NMCD officials that there were no health care
problems at the facility. On the same tour, however, committee members heard
firsthand accounts from inmates who complained they couldn’t get treatment
when they became sick [Outtakes, Oct. 25: “Medical Test”]. That visit, along
with Apodaca’s accounts, calls into question Wexford’s and NMCD’s accounts, State Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Bernalillo, says.
“We were told on our tour that nothing was wrong. And now to hear that there
is a claim that Wexford and the Corrections Department might have known about
this makes it seem like this information was knowingly covered up,” McSorley,
co-chairman of the committee, says. “We can’t trust what’s being told to us.
The situation may require independent oversight far beyond what we have. This
should be the biggest story in the state right now.”

November 8, 2006 Santa Fe
Reporter
The New Mexico State Legislature is one step closer to an audit of Wexford
Health Sources, the private company that administers health care in New
Mexico’s prisons. On Oct. 24, the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC)
tentatively approved the audit, which will evaluate Wexford’s contract with
the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) and also assess the quality of
health care administered to inmates. The request for a review of Wexford
originated with the state Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice
Committee, which voted unanimously on Oct. 20 to recommend the audit after a
hearing on prison health care in Hobbs [Outtakes, Oct. 25: “Medical Test”]. A
subsequent Oct. 30 letter sent to the LFC by committee co-chairmen Rep.
Joseph Cervantes, D-Dońa Ana, and Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Bernalillo, refers
to “serious complaints raised by present and former employees” of Wexford.
The letter cites this newspaper’s reportage of the situation and notes that on
a recent tour of Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs, “committee
members heard numerous concerns from inmates about medical problems not being
addressed.” It also refers to confidential statements Wexford employees
provided to the committee that were then turned over
to the LFC. The decision to examine Wexford and NMCD comes on the coattails
of months of reports that state inmates are suffering behind bars due to
inadequate medical services, documented in an ongoing, investigative series
by SFR. Over the past three months, former and current employees have alleged
staffing shortages as well as problems with the dispensation of prescription
drugs and the amount of time sick inmates are forced to wait before receiving
urgent care [Cover story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. The timing, Manu Patel, the
LFC’s deputy director for audits, says, is ideal, because the LFC already
planned to initiate a comprehensive audit of NMCD, the first in recent
history. Regarding the medical component of the audit, Patel says: “We will
be looking at how cost-effective Wexford has been. Also, we will be looking
at the quality of care, how long inmates have to wait to receive care and
what [Wexford’s] services are like.” Patel says the LFC plans to contract
with medical professionals to help evaluate inmates’ care. As per a request
from the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, current Wexford employees
will be given a chance to participate in the audit anonymously. The audit’s
specifics require final approval from the LFC in December; the committee will
likely take up to six months to generate a report, according to Patel. In a
Nov. 6 e-mail to SFR, Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman cites 14
successful, independent audits performed of Wexford in New Mexico since May
2005. “Wexford is proud of the service we have provided to the Corrections
Department as documented in these independent audits and looks forward to
continuing high quality health care services in New Mexico,” Gedman writes.
NMCD spokeswoman Tia Bland echoes Gedman: “We welcome the audit and plan on
cooperating any way we can,” she says. Meanwhile, former employees continue
to come forward. Kathryn Hamilton, an ex-NMCD mental health counselor, says
she worked alongside Wexford staff at the Pen for two months, shortly after
the company took the reins in New Mexico in July 2004. Hamilton alleges that
mentally ill inmates were cut off psychotropic medicine for cheaper, less
effective drugs and that inmates waited too long to have prescriptions
renewed and suffered severe behavioral withdrawals as a result. Hamilton, who
had worked at the Pen since April 2002, says she encountered the same sorts
of problems under Addus, Wexford’s predecessor, but quit shortly after
Wexford’s takeover because the situation wasn’t improving. “They would stop
meds, give inmates the wrong meds or refuse to purchase meds that were not on
their formulary, even if they were prescribed by a doctor,” Hamilton says. “I
felt angry, sometimes helpless, although I always tried to speak with
administrators to help the inmates.” Hamilton married a state inmate by proxy
last month, after continuing a correspondence with him following her tenure
at the Pen. Hamilton says she did not serve as a counselor to the inmate,
Anthony Hamilton, but met him after helping conduct a series of mental health
evaluations. Hamilton has been a licensed master social worker under her
maiden name since 2000 (according to the New Mexico Board of Social Work
Examiners). She emphasizes that her relationship with her husband did not
begin until after she left the Corrections Department. According to Hamilton,
her husband, still incarcerated at the Pen for aggravated assault, recently
contracted methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a serious
staph infection. In a previous story, four current Wexford employees
specifically mentioned MRSA as a concern to SFR because they allege Wexford
does not supply proper protective equipment for staff treating infectious
diseases like MRSA [Outtakes, Oct. 18: “Corrections Concerns”]. Wexford Vice
President Gedman did not address Hamilton’s claims when queried by SFR.
Corrections spokeswoman Bland also says she can’t comment on Hamilton’s
allegations because she had not spoken with Hamilton’s supervisor at the time
of her employment. Says Hamilton: “I initially called the newspaper as the
concerned wife of an inmate, not as a former therapist. With all the stories
the Reporter has done, I wanted to come forward with what I had seen at the
Pen.”

October 18, 2006 Santa Fe
Reporter
Current prison health workers say they fear retaliation if they speak out.
Just days before state legislators convene a hearing on correctional health
care in New Mexico, a group of medical employees in the state prison system
have come to SFR with allegations about how inmates are treated. All four
requested anonymity because they say they fear retaliation from Wexford
Health Sources—the private company that administers health care in the
prisons—if their identities are revealed. The employees currently work at Central
New Mexico Correctional Facility. They allege, among other things, that
chronically ill inmates are forced to lie in their own feces for hours, are
taken off vital medicine to save money and often wait months before receiving
treatment for urgent medical conditions. Moreover, the employees say
conditions at the facility are unsanitary. “In my entire career, I’ve never
seen this sort of stuff happening,” one employee says. “These inmates are not
being treated humanely. They don’t live in sanitary conditions. They live in
pain.” Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman denies all the employees’
allegations in an e-mail response to SFR. Corrections spokeswoman Tia Bland
says the department is unaware of these allegations and that “none of these
issues have surfaced during our regular auditing process.” The employees’
allegations come on the heels of a series of stories by SFR, in which several
former Wexford employees have publicly come forward with similar charges
[Cover Story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. As a result of the stories, the state
Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee will hold a hearing
on Oct. 20 in Hobbs to discuss the matter [Outtakes, Sept. 13: “Checkup”].
Wexford and the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD), which oversees the
Pennsylvania-based company, have categorically denied charges that inmates
are being denied proper health care. These latest allegations are the first
to come from current employees of Wexford. The employees describe an
environment where medical staff must purchase their own wipes for incontinent
patients because they say Wexford administrators say there’s no money for
supplies. They say there’s a shortage of oxygen tanks and nebulizer machines
(for asthma patients) and also scant protective equipment for those staff
treating infectious diseases. Gedman says, “Wexford is unaware of any
shortage in medical supplies. Extra oxygen bottles and nebulizers are always
on hand and ready for any emergency use. The oxygen bottles are inventoried
daily as part of our emergency response requirement.” The employees also
allege that chronically ill inmates sometimes wait what they say is too long
to be taken off-site for specialty care. Gedman says this also is false and
that Wexford “strongly encourages all of our providers to refer patients for
necessary evaluation and treatment, off-site when necessary, as soon as
problems are identified that need specialty referral.” All four employees say
their complaints to Wexford administrators about the lack of supplies and treatment
of inmates have been ignored, and all believe coming forward publicly will
cost them their jobs. Gedman says this concern is unfounded because “Wexford
encourages an open-door policy for all employees to bring issues to the
attention of management so that they can be investigated and acted upon as
appropriate.” Bland says Corrections staff are
“visible and accessible in the prisons. If any of Wexford’s staff would like
to speak with us concerning these allegations, we welcome the information and
will certainly look into the matter.” As for the legislative hearing, State
Rep. Joseph Cervantes, R-Dońa Ana, co-chairman of the Courts, Corrections and
Justice Committee, says he hopes some of these Wexford critics will show up
in Hobbs. And he says further hearings are a possibility. “I hope there is a
full airing of the issues. I would like to learn that the Corrections
Department is working to resolve all of this, but if they haven’t, I expect
to make deadlines for them so we can expect adequate progress,” Cervantes
says. “We’d still like to protect the anonymity and bring to light any
allegations and complaints.” Cervantes also says he wants to introduce
legislation during the next session to protect whistle-blowers. Ken
Kopczynski, executive director of the Private Corrections Institute watchdog
group in Florida, says the Legislature must do everything it can to safeguard
current Wexford employees against retaliation. “The Legislature is the
ultimate authority, and they need to put pressure on the Corrections
Department to find out what the hell is going on. They also need to protect
these employees so they can come forward and testify about their specific
experiences,” Kopczynski says. “And if there are allegations of civil rights
abuse, which is what it sounds like, then the Justice Department needs to
come in.”

August 14, 2006 In These Times
While New Mexico’s landscape may make the state the Land of Enchantment, its
rapidly growing rates of incarceration have been utterly disenchanting.
What’s worse, New Mexico is at the top of the nation’s list for privatizing
prisons; nearly one-half of the state’s prisons and jails are run by
corporations. Supposedly, states turn to private companies to cope better
with chronic overcrowding and for low-cost management. However, a closer look
suggests a different rationale. A recent report from the Montana-based
Institute on Money in State Politics reveals that during the 2002 and 2004
election cycles, private prison companies, directors, executives and
lobbyists gave $3.3 million to candidates and state political parties across
44 states. According to Edwin Bender, executive director of the Institute on
Money in State Politics, private prison companies strongly favor giving to
states with the toughest sentencing laws—in essence, the ones that are more
likely to come up with the bodies to fill prison beds. Those states, adds
Bender, are also the ones most likely to have passed “three-strikes” laws.
Those laws, first passed by Washington state voters in 1993 and then California
voters in 1994, quickly swept the nation. They were
largely based on “cookie-cutter legislation” pushed by the American
Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), some of whose members come from the
ranks of private prison companies. Florida leads the pack in terms of private
prison dollars, with its candidates and political parties receiving almost 20
percent of their total contributions from private prison companies and their
affiliates. Florida already has five privately owned and operated prisons,
with a sixth on the way. It’s also privatized the bulk of its juvenile
detention system. Texas and New Jersey are close behind. But in Florida, some
of the influence peddling finally seems to be backfiring. Florida State
Corrections Secretary James McDonough alarmed private prison companies with a
comment during an Aug. 2 morning call-in radio show. “I actually think the
state is better at running the prisons,” McDonough told an interviewer. His
comments followed an internal audit last year by the state’s Department of
Management Services, which demonstrated that Florida overpaid private prison
operators by $1.3 million. Things may no longer be quite as sunny as they
once were in Florida for the likes of Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections
Corporation of America (CCA) and the former Wackenhut, now known as the GEO
Group of Boca Raton, Fla. But with a little bit of spiel-tinkering—and a
shift of attention to other states—the prison privatizers are likely to keep
going. The key shift, Bender explains, is that “the prison industry has gone
from a we-can-save-you-money pitch to an
economic-development model pitch.” In other words, says Bender, “you need
[their] prisons for jobs.” If political donations are any measure,
economically challenged and poverty-stricken states like New Mexico are a
great target. In this campaign cycle, Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson has
already received more contributions from a private prison company than any
other politician campaigning for state office in the United States. The
Institute of Money in State Politics, which traced the donations, reported
that GEO has contributed $42,750 to Richardson since 2005—and another $8,000
to his running mate, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish. Another $30,000 went from GEO to
the Richardson-headed Democratic Governors Association this past March.
Richardson’s PAC, Moving America Forward, was another prominent recipient of
GEO donations. Now, its former head, prominent state capitol lobbyist Joe
Velasquez, is a registered lobbyist for GEO Care Inc., a healthcare subsidiary
that runs a hospital in New Mexico. But don’t get the idea that GEO has any
particular love for Democrats: $95,000 from the corporation went to the
Republican Governors Association last year alone. What companies like GEO do
love are the millions of dollars rolling in from lucrative New Mexico
contracts to run the Lea County Correctional Facility (operating budget: $25
million/year), and the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility ($13
million/year), among others. CCA also owns and operates the state’s only
women’s facility in Grants ($11 million per year). To make sure that those
dollars keep flowing, GEO and CCA have perfected the art of the “very tight
revolving door,” says Bender, which involves snapping up former corrections
administrators, PAC lobbyists and state officials to serve as consultants to
private prison companies. In fact, the current New Mexico Corrections
Department Secretary Joe Williams was once on GEO’s payroll as their warden
of the Lea County Correctional Facility. Earlier this year, Williams was
placed on unpaid administrative leave after accusations surfaced that he
spent state travel and phone funds to pursue a very close relationship with
Ann Casey. Casey is a registered lobbyist in New Mexico for Wexford Health
Sources, which provides health care for prisoners at Grants, and Aramark,
which provides most of the state’s inmate meals. In her non-lobbying hours,
it turns out that Casey is also an assistant warden at a state prison in
Centralia, Ill. It appears that even for a prison industry enchanted by
public-private partnership, Williams and Casey may have gone too far.

July 18, 2006 New Mexican
A racetrack owner, a private prison company and a chewing-tobacco corporation
-- all on the record for seeking favors from New Mexico politicians -- have
contributed tens of thousands of dollars to a national group headed by Gov.
Bill Richardson. The June 30 report by the Democratic Governors Association
-- which Richardson has chaired since 2004 and which frequently pays for his
out-of-state travel -- lists several contributors familiar to New Mexico
political circles. Among those are: The GEO Group, a Florida-based private
prison corporation that operates in New Mexico and that, in this election
cycle, has contributed more to Richardson than any other single candidate in
the country. The company in June gave a total of $20,000 to the DGA, for a
total of $50,000 this year. Richardson spokesman Pahl Shipley said Monday
that there is "absolutely no connection" between the contributions
and administration policy. The GEO Group, formerly known as Wackenhut, has
increased its New Mexico operations from two to four since Richardson took
office. The company has operated prisons in Santa Rosa and Hobbs since the
1990s. But last year, it won a contract to operate a state hospital facility
in Fort Bayard. Richardson has endorsed a plan for GEO to operate a prison to
be built in the town of Clayton, which will house as many as 600 state
inmates. Since 2002, GEO has contributed more than $79,000 to politicians
running for state office in New Mexico. The biggest beneficiary is
Richardson, who has received $42,750 from the company since 2005. His running
mate, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, lists $8,000 in GEO contributions in the current
election season. But the DGA isn't the only governors association to get
money from GEO, which operates about 50 corrections facilities in the U.S.
The latest report for the Republican Governors Association shows two
contributions totaling $50,000 from the prison company in May and June. That
means GEO has given the DGA and the RGA the same amount this year.

July 13, 2006 New Mexican
A Florida-based private-prison company that has doled out thousands of
dollars to New Mexico politicians made two $5,000 contributions to Attorney
General Patricia Madrid's congressional campaign less than three weeks after
Madrid's office published a legal opinion that directly benefited the firm. A
spokeswoman for Madrid's campaign, Heather Brewer, on Wednesday denied the
contributions were connected with the legal opinion, which cleared the way
for the city of Clayton to contract with The GEO Group of Boca Raton, Fla.,
to build and operate a prison facility that would house state inmates. A
spokesman for GEO, formerly known as Wackenhut, also denied any connection
between the contributions and the legal opinion. But Enrique Knell, spokesman
for Madrid's Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, said,
"There's a pattern here of pay-to-play politics practiced by Patsy
Madrid." GEO already operates two prisons and a hospital for the state.
Last year, three state legislators concerned about the legality of the
Clayton plan asked Madrid's office for a legal opinion. Rep. Luciano
"Lucky" Varela, D-Santa Fe; Rep. Joe Cervantes, D-Las Cruces; and
Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque, asked the attorney general whether a
local government has the authority to build or operate a state prison. The
three also asked whether a local government is exempt from the state
Procurement Code if it contracts with a private company to operate a state
prison. The Procurement Code requires state and local governments to seek
bids from multiple companies to provide services. On Nov. 14, Assistant
Attorney General Zachary Shandler issued an opinion that said the plan was
legal. "While legitimate policy questions may be raised about the wisdom
of allowing private construction and operation of a second jail in
Clayton/Union County, the local public bodies may rely on existing statutory
authority for this project," he wrote. Eighteen days later, GEO made its
contributions to Madrid. The company earmarked $5,000 for the primary
election -- though Madrid had no primary opponent -- and earmarked the other
$5,000 for the general election. This is the limit for corporate
contributions, according to federal campaign-finance law. GEO receives about
$38 million from the state for the two existing prisons it operates. The
contract for the prison in Santa Rosa is worth about $13 million a year. That
facility has about the same number of beds as planned for the Clayton prison.
Last year, the state awarded a GEO subsidiary a contract to manage the
troubled 230-bed Fort Bayard Medical Center east of Silver City and to build
a $30 million replacement hospital with the help of tax-exempt bonds. In the
past three elections, the company gave contributions totaling $2,750 to
Wilson. Former state Sen. Les Houston, a New Mexico lobbyist for GEO, said
this week that he expects the company to contribute to Wilson's campaign as
well. Since 2002, GEO has contributed more than $79,000 to politicians
running for state office in New Mexico. The biggest beneficiary is Gov. Bill
Richardson, who has collected $42,750 from the company since 2005. His
running mate, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, has received $8,000 from the prison
company. According to The Institute of Money in State Politics, Richardson,
as of May, had received more money from GEO than any other politician
nationwide running for state office in this election cycle.

July 11, 2006 New Mexican
A Florida-based private prison company that does tens of millions of dollars
worth of business with the state has become a big player in the world of New
Mexico's campaign contributions. The GEO Group, formerly known as Wackenhut,
has dropped since 2002 more than $79,000 on politicians running for state
office here. The biggest beneficiary is Gov. Bill Richardson, who has
collected $42,750 from the company since 2005. According to The Institute of
Money in State Politics, Richardson, as of May, had received more money from
GEO than any other politician nationwide running for state office in this
election cycle. In addition, GEO in March donated $30,000 to the Democratic
Governors Association, which Richardson heads -- although the company
contributed $95,000 to the Republican Governors Association last year. The
prison company also has given $8,000 to Richardson's running mate, Lt. Gov.
Diane Denish, in the current election cycle. Denish got $500 from the company
in the 2002 election cycle. Others who got contributions from GEO this
election cycle are former Richardson chief counsel Geno Zamora, who lost the
Democratic primary for attorney general, and congressional candidate Patricia
Madrid, the current attorney general, whose contribution represents a switch
for GEO. In the past three elections, the company gave to Madrid's incumbent
Republican opponent, Heather Wilson. And in the 2002 state attorney general's
race, GEO donated to Madrid's GOP challenger, Rob Perry, a former corrections
secretary. While mainly Democrats in this state currently are benefiting from
GEO contributions, nationally the firm gives more to Republicans -- $114,157
for GOP state candidates in this election cycle, compared to $74,725 for
Democrats, according to the most recent figures from The Institute of Money
in State Politics. Asked whether the GEO contributions affected Richardson's
policy pertaining to private prisons, spokesman Pahl Shipley said: "It's
outrageous even to imply or infer a connection and absolutely not true. State
contracts are fully transparent and must follow strict procurement
procedures. Governor Richardson insists that state agencies act in the best
interests of New Mexicans and get the best deal for the state." GEO
spokesmen and lobbyists couldn't be reached for comment Monday. GEO receives
about $38 million from the state, approximately $25 million to run the Lea
County prison in Hobbs and $13 million for the prison in Santa Rosa. The
company has contracted with the city of Clayton to operate the planned prison
in that northeastern New Mexico city. That prison will house state inmates.
The Clayton prison will have about 600 beds, close to the number in Santa
Rosa. Also, the state awarded a GEO subsidiary a contract last year to manage
the troubled 230-bed Fort Bayard Medical Center east of Silver City and to
build a $30 million replacement hospital with the help of tax-exempt bonds. A
key Richardson ally is a registered lobbyist in this state for GEO Care Inc.,
which manages the Fort Bayard hospital. Lobbyist Joe Velasquez of Washington,
D.C., was the director of the national Richardson political-action committee
Moving America Forward. Velasquez was President Clinton's deputy political
director and a former AFL/CIO executive. Richardson's campaign manager,
Amanda Cooper, said last week that Velasquez was not the reason for GEO's
generosity toward Richardson. Velasquez couldn't be reached for comment.
Shipley noted that the actual contracts with private prisons are done through
local governments. The state pays to house inmates in the private prisons.
The cost varies for each prison. In the Hobbs facility, the state is charged
an average of $18,889 per inmate annually. GEO first began doing business in
New Mexico as Wackenhut as part of Gov. Gary Johnson's plan to let private
companies manage some of the state's prisons. During the Johnson years,
Wackenhut made headlines when it was revealed it had hired then state Senate
President Pro Tem Manny Aragon as a "consultant." Aragon resigned
from his post at Wackenhut after receiving severe criticism from both
parties. In contrast to Richardson, Johnson only received $9,330 from GEO for
his 1998 re-election campaign. Richardson, during his 2002 gubernatorial
campaign, wouldn't say whether he would maintain Johnson's
prison-privatization program. However, since he took office, the private
prisons have remained, and there has been no serious talk about getting rid
of them. According to numbers provided by The Institute of Money in State
Politics, GEO in the past two years has made more contributions to New Mexico
politicians than any other state, save Florida, where the company's
headquarters are located. GEO dropped $58,500 for candidates running for
state offices in Florida, just $500 more than New Mexico, according to the
institute's latest figures, which don't include federal offices. However, New
Mexico has only two GEO-run prisons (with a third being built) and a
hospital. In comparison, Texas has 17 GEO-operated facilities. The company
only gave $2,200 to state candidates there. According to a study by the
institute, New Mexico ranks ninth for all states in terms of contributions
from the corrections industry, based on numbers from the 2002 and 2004
elections. "The fact that we don't have limits on campaign contributions
makes this state attractive to those companies that want to get a big bang
for their bucks," Matt Brix, executive director of Common Cause, a group
that advocates campaign-finance reform, said Monday. GEO, which operates
about 50 prison and jail operations in this country, also has contracts in
South Africa, the United Kingdom and Australia. The company manages the
"migrant operations program" -- for those detained at sea by the
U.S. Coast Guard -- at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base as a joint effort with
the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security.

July 7, 2006 New Mexican
The Bill Richardson campaign-money machine kept churning last month. In his
bid for a second term as governor, Democrat Richardson took in more than
$824,000 last month, according to his campaign-finance report filed with the
state Thursday. That brings the total he has raised for re-election to more
than $8 million -- about the same amount he raised for his 2002 campaign.
Richardson's running mate, Diane Denish, raised nearly $150,000 and spent
more than $38,417 last month according to her report. In New Mexico, governor
and lieutenant governor candidates run as a ticket, not separately, in the
general election, though traditionally lieutenant governor candidates raise
their own campaign funds. Denish's biggest contributor was New York
telecommunications mogul Leo Hindery, who gave $25,000. She also got $10,000
contributions from three companies, Eunice Well Servicing Co., ABC Tool
Rental of Hobbs and Controlled Recovery Inc. of Hobbs,.
The GEO Group, formerly known as Wackenhut, which operates private prisons
for the state, gave Denish $5,000, according to her report.

May 31, 2006 New Mexican
A state prison contractor involved in the investigation of a relationship
between Corrections Secretary Joe Williams and a lobbyist contributed $10,000
to Gov. Bill Richardson's re-election campaign. The political-action
committee for Aramark -- a Philadelphia-based company that makes millions of
dollars a year to feed New Mexico inmates -- contributed to Richardson's campaign
in May 2005, according to Richardson's most recent campaign-finance report.
That was about a year after Aramark renewed its contract with the state
Corrections Department. Aramark also has been generous to the state
Democratic Party, contributing $10,000 in 2004, and the Democratic Governors
Association, which Richardson chairs. The company contributed a total of
$15,000 to the DGA in 2004 and another $15,000 in 2005, according to reports
filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Aramark provides food service to
more than 475 correctional institutions in North America. The corporation
also has food-service contracts in colleges, hospitals, convention centers
and stadiums. Richardson spokesman Pahl Shipley referred questions about the
campaign donation to Richardson's campaign manager, Amanda Cooper, who
couldn't be reached for comment. The Governor's Office announced this week
that Williams is being put on administrative leave while the state Personnel
Office investigates his relationship with Ann E. Casey, who registered as a
lobbyist for Aramark and Wexford Health Services, which provides health care
to New Mexico inmates. Casey is an assistant warden at an Illinois prison. A
copyrighted story in the Albuquerque Journal said Williams' state-issued cell-phone
records show 644 calls between Williams and Casey between Sept. 24, 2005, and
Feb. 23. According to that report, Casey was hired as a consultant by Aramark
in 2005, but that contract has since been terminated. Aramark's $5.4 million
contract ends in July. The Secretary of State Office's Lobbyist Index lists
Casey as a lobbyist for Wexford, though the Journal report quotes a Wexford
official saying the company never hired her. In 2004, a $10,000 contribution
to a Richardson political committee from Wexford's parent company caused a
stir and later was returned to the Pittsburgh company. The Bantry Group made
the contribution to Richardson's Moving America Forward PAC in April 2004.
This was during a bidding process just a month after the Corrections Department
requested proposals for a contract to provide health care and psychiatric
services to inmates. That contract potentially is worth more than $100
million, The Associated Press reported. In August 2004, a Richardson
spokesman said the money would be returned "to avoid even the appearance
of impropriety."

May 30, 2006 New Mexican
Debbie Rodella of Espańola first won her House of Representatives seat in
1992, and has represented Northern New Mexico's District 41 ever since. This
year, she faces a challenge from Moises Morales Jr., a former Rio Arriba
County commissioner and a political activist of 40 years. The 59-year-old
Canjilon rancher and former mechanic-shop owner is challenging Rodella in the
June 6 Democratic primary for the right to represent a district that consists
mostly of Rio Arriba County and parts of Taos and Sandoval counties. The
incumbent legislator is well ahead of her challenger in drawing endorsements
of her candidacy and in raising campaign funds. According to
financial-disclosure statements filed in early May, Rodella had raised more
than $10,000 in the past year, on top of the $18,000-plus she previously had
in her campaign treasury. Many of her contributions are from out-of-state
corporations, including big pharmaceutical companies (Pfizer and
GlaxoSmithKline); the liquor industry (Anheuser Busch, The Distilled Spirits
Council), big tobacco (UST, which manufactures smokeless-tobacco brands like
Skoal and Copenhagen), private prisons (Corrections Corporation of New
Mexico) and several payday-loan companies.

May 9, 2006 Albuquerque Journal
Lobbyists and their employers contributed $386,000 to candidates for state,
legislative and other offices during the first four months of the year, with
Gov. Bill Richardson receiving the largest share of the political money.
Richardson, who is running for re-election this year, collected $171,500 in
campaign donations from lobbyists and their clients from January through late
April, according to disclosure reports filed by lobbyists with the Secretary
of State's Office. Other contributors to the governor's re-election: $27,500
from Geo Group Inc., formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections Corp., which
operates private prisons used by the state; $25,000 from Presbyterian Health
Plan, one of the managed care companies under contract with the state to
provide health care through Medicaid; $5,000 from Community Loans of America,
a payday and auto title loan company; and $5,000 from Express Scripts, a
company that manages pharmacy benefits offered through insurance plans,
including for some state retirees.

May 8, 2006 AP
Democratic candidate Geno Zamora was leading the pack in fundraising,
scooping up nearly $468,000 with the help of real estate developers and race
tracks to finance his campaign for attorney general. Other large
contributions to Zamora: $25,000 in money and $2,250 in-kind from Santa Fe
retiree Bernard Logue y Perea; and $10,000 from private-prison operator Geo
Group. Zamora, former chief counsel to Gov. Bill Richardson, is in a three-way
race for the Democratic nomination with District Attorney Lemuel Martinez of
the 13th Judicial District and former state Rep. Gary King.

January 22, 2006 Albuquerque
Journal
Bill Richardson once described his former congressional aide Butch Maki as
"the go-to guy." Since Richardson was elected governor, Maki has
become a "goto" lobbyist for a number of companies jockeying for
state business. A businessman, consultant, Vietnam veteran, pilot and
longtime Richardson loyalist, Maki first registered as a New Mexico lobbyist
in January 2003 - the same month Richardson took office. By last year, he had
compiled an impressive client list, ranging from BNSF Railway to Corrections
Corporation of America to a Japanese company that manufactures the artificial
sweetener aspartame. Corrections Corporation of America first hired Maki as a
lobbyist in 2003 to handle "administrative matters," said longtime
CCA lobbyist Ed Mahr. Mahr said that included lobbying the executive branch.
CCA recently won a state contract through a competitive bid to manage the
196-bed Camino Nuevo female inmate correctional facility in Albuquerque.

June 14, 2005 Santa Fe New
Mexican
It's a depressing prospect, made more so by the way it's being faced: Gov.
Bill Richardson says he supports Corrections Director Joe Williams' pitch for
a new state prison. The state has run out of cells to hold all the felons too
dangerous to be free on probation, says Williams. Clayton, that pleasant, but
distant, little town out near the Texas and Oklahoma
panhandles, proposes to build a 600-bed lockup for the sake of creating jobs.
A nice match -- but Williams doesn't want the bother of running the prison.
Like Republican Rod Perry before him, the Democratic appointee wants
Wackenhut to do the dirty work. Now known as "the Geo Group,"
Wackenhut Corrections Corp. is one of the nation's leaders in the
prisons-for-profit industry, a trend that took off during the Reagan years
when many governmental functions were handed over to private contractors. It
was on Wackenhut's watch that violence flared at prisons in Hobbs and Santa
Rosa during the late 1990s. Maybe it would have happened if the state had
been running them -- but at least there would have been a clear line of
accountability; one ending at the governor's desk. With privatization, our
politicians smudge the line at will, pleading that whatever goes wrong is
somehow out of their hands. Prison violence, of course, is good for business:
It means extended sentences, at a certain number of dollars a day. And
rehabilitation and early release are bad for business -- so how anxious are
the privateers to get Joe Convict back in society? That attitude is almost as
criminal as what got some inmates behind bars in the first place. Prisons,
after all, are part of the justice system -- a basic responsibility of
government. Put that responsibility in corporate hands, and its executives
immediately look for ways to squeeze profits from their contract. Hire guards
as cheaply as possible, and never mind their education and experience levels.
Make each guard responsible for a few more inmates -- until it occurs to
those inmates that they can overpower the poor devil ... And private prisons
create a demand for convicts -- so the early stages of the justice system are
caught up in a subtle pressure to supply them: Bill of Rights be damned --
our judiciary- and executive-friendly prison companies need bodies ... All
that was lost on Richardson's predecessor: Gov. Gary Johnson went so far as
to fire his first corrections secretary for daring to mention that the state
wouldn't even save much, if any, money with Johnson's elaborate
prison-profiteering scheme. Surely today's governor can do better by our
justice system. If New Mexico's many social crises are unresolved to the
point that we need more prisons, the least he and Joe Williams can do is
maintain responsibility for the latest wave of felons.

May 4, 2005 AP
From tickets to professional sports games to "New Mexico coffee crusted
beef tenderloin," lobbyists served up a full platter for lawmakers and
state officials during the first four months of the year. Lobbyists spent at
least $418,949 for meals, drinks, gifts, entertainment and special events for
legislators, the governor, state agency officials and staff from January
through late April, much of that during the Legislature's 60-day session. In
addition, lobbyists and their clients gave $87,000 in campaign contributions.
Gov. Bill Richardson received about $38,700 of those contributions, including
$10,000 from Geo Group Inc., formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections Corp.,
which operates private prisons used by the state. Richardson is up for
re-election in 2006.

August 16, 2004
A Pittsburgh company's $10,000 contribution to one of Gov. Bill Richardson's
political committees made while a subsidiary was seeking a state contract
will be returned "to avoid even the appearance of impropriety," a
spokesman for the governor said. The Bantry Group made the contribution to
Moving America Forward in April, one month after the Corrections Department requested
proposals for a contract to provide health care and psychiatric services to
the approximately 6,200 state inmates in private and state-run prisons.
Richardson, in a written statement Thursday, announced that Wexford Health
Sources, a Bantry subsidiary, had been picked for the contract -- potentially
worth more than $100 million. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

August 16, 2004
A Pittsburgh company contributed $10,000 to one of Gov. Bill Richardson's
political committees while a subsidiary was seeking a contract to provide
health care to prison inmates in New Mexico. The Bantry Group made the
contribution, and a subsidiary, Wexford Health Sources, won the contract,
potentially worth more than $100 million. Wexford, one of three
competitors for the contract, has faced hundreds of allegations in other
states of providing inadequate care to inmates, sometimes leading to death.
Richardson announced in a written statement Thursday that Wexford had been
picked to provide health care and psychiatric services to the approximately
6,200 state inmates in private and state-run prisons. Wexford's competitors
for the contract— Correctional Medical Services of St. Louis and Prison
Health Services of Brentwood, Tenn.— made no contributions to Richardson. But Wexford, one of the largest companies of its
kind in the country, has faced questions in several other states about its
quality of care. According to published reports: In 2001, a state board in
Florida criticized Wexford for poor medical care that may have contributed to
the deaths of two Miami-Dade County inmates. The state of Michigan terminated
a contract with Wexford after questions arose
involving medical services. A 1998 U.S. Department of Justice report
criticized medical care at the Wyoming State Penitentiary, where Wexford was
under contract. Wexford has been the target of more than 210 lawsuits
nationwide by inmates or others. (ABQ Journal)

May 13, 2003Gov. Bill Richardson collected $549,333 in
contributions from December through early May, including money raised to help
pay for his inauguration. Attorney General Patricia Madrid, a Democrat,
reported contributions of $15,614, expenditures of $43,890, and a balance of
$67,862. The largest contributions included $2,000 from Wackenhut Corrections
and $2,000 from Qwest's political-action committee. (Santa Fe New
Mexican)

April 18, 2003
Gov. Bill Richardson's office has identified dozens of government contracts
that could be reduced or eliminated to save New Mexico about $21 million.
About $15 million of that amount is state money, while nearly $6 million is
federal. The contract actions will range from canceling a $2 million private
prison contract to getting rid of a $30,000-a-year rented copy machine at the
Department of Finance, Richardson said Thursday. The money expected to be
saved this year is just part of the $90 million the governor has said he
wants to save as part of finding more money for the state's $4 billion
budget. "I asked my Cabinet secretaries to scrutinize every penny we are
spending to make sure taxpayers are getting their money's worth,"
Richardson said. Examples of savings identified by Richardson include a
canceled contract with Management and Training Corporation to house 140 state
prisoners in McKinley County. Those prisoners will instead be housed in state
facilities around New Mexico, Corrections Department Secretary Joe Williams
said. Including that contract, the department is expected to save $3.1
million. (ABQ Journal)

April 10, 2003
Gov. Bill Richardson earlier this week signed a bill that cuts more than four
years off the amount of time corrections officers must work before they're
eligible to retire, putting them on par with State Police officers The change also is expected to serve as a hiring
incentive that will help fill the corrections officer ranks at the state
level. The state Corrections Department hasn't been at full strength for
decades. But it doesn't apply to workers at private prisons, where more
than 40 percent of the state's 6,100-plus inmates are now housed. The
new plan won't take effect until July 2004, after corrections officers vote
on it, said John LaBombard, director of labor relations for state
corrections. La Bombard said Wednesday he's already getting many calls
from private-prison workers inquiring about jobs. (ABQ Journal)

January 2, 2003
Gov. Bill Richardson's inauguration is estimated to cost about
$420,000. However, taxpayers won't be picking up the tab.
Donations from corporations and sales of tickets to inaugural balls will
cover the expenses. Among those donors were
Wackenhut Corrections Corp., which owns and operates prisons that are used by
the state. (ABQ Journal)

January 7, 2002
Gov. Gary Johnson is asking the Legislature to spend $20 million next year to
expand state prisons to avoid inmate overcrowding in the future. The
governor, in his budget proposals to the Legislature, proposes spending $
13.3 million next year for a 400-bed expansion at a state prison at Las
Cruces and $6.7 million for a 250-bed expansion of a minimum security prison
at Roswell. The money is part of the governor's recommendations for $256
million in capital improvements in the budget year that begins in July.
Corrections Secretary Rob Perry said Monday the Corrections Department also
has recommended a 300-bed expansion of a privately operated prison to provide
more space for medium security inmates. No state monies are needed initially
to pay for the construction at the private prison, but the state would cover
the costs through an increase in future payments for leasing cells for
inmates in the facility. (AP)

June 29, 2001
"Godbey is a dead man!" Harsh words for a Republican state
House of Representatives member to pen about a GOP colleague. Harsh
enough that Rep. Ron Godbey, R-Aluquerque, was given a State Police escort at
the Capitol after Rep. Dan Foley, R-Roswell, passed the "dead man"
threat note to House Minority Whip Earlene Roberts, R-Lovington. For
his part, Foley said he was merely making a political observation about
Godbey when he wrote the note. Godbey tried unsuccessfully to unseat
State Republican Party chairman John Dendahl publicly backed liberalizing New
Mexico drug laws. Godbey is a staunch opponent of liberal drug
laws. "To know that my party is involved in drugs and gambling is
driving me crazy," said Roberts. If Godbey wasn't threatened with
actual death, he was threatened with political execution. Are the
issues of the leaders becoming more important than the issues of the members
in the Republican Party in New Mexico? After all, Republican national
committeeman Mickey Barnett is a lobbyist for a casino-operating Indian tribe
and a private prison operator and he was a lead lobbyist for liberal drug
laws during the last legislative session. (Albuquerque Journal)

"Private Prison Company
Allegedly Put 73-Year-Old Grandmother In Solitary Confinement For 34
Days" Carol Lester, a 73-year-old grandmother serving time in New Mexico
Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants, is suing Corrections Corporation of
America, one of the largest private prison companies in the world, and
Corizon, Inc, a private prison health care company, for denying her medical
care and keeping her in solitary confinement for over a month. Lester’s
lawsuit, filed in late November, charges that the warden deliberately put her
in solitary confinement because she complained to lawmakers and Department of Corrections officials that she and other
women were being denied medical care. Lester plead
guilty to embezzling money from her employer to feed a gambling addiction in
2010. Soon after beginning her three-year sentence, the lawsuit charges that
the privately run prison stopped giving her the prescribed medication she had
been taking for thyroid cancer and gave her a new medication that made her
sick. Lester started fainting on a regular basis, and medical staff told her
she may have a serious heart condition. However, they did not send her to a
specialist or a hospital, and her health deteriorated rapidly. According to
the complaint, she took up a letter writing campaign with fellow inmates who
were also being denied medical care. Her letters prompted a delegation of
state legislators and the head of health services for the Department of
Corrections to visit the prison to talk with inmates about their concerns.
Soon after these visits, Lester was given a drug test, and tested positive
for methanphetamine. Though she had no history of drug use, the prison was
prescribing her Zantac, which is known to cause false positives for
methanphetamine. Lester reportedly offered to pay for a blood test to prove
she was clean, but was put in solitary confinement instead. While in
solitary, Lester says she stopped getting medications for either her thyroid
cancer or her heart condition. Though a court has not yet heard Lester’s
case, the two prison companies in question already face a string of
allegations that they abuse or neglect inmates. Because private prison
companies must turn a profit, health care and quality of life are often
sacrificed for the bottom line. Corizon is already handling lawsuits and
investigations all over the country charging that the health care company
ignored inmates’ calls for help, left sick inmates in soiled bedsheets
without any food or water, and even let a man die because calling an
ambulance was deemed too expensive. Corrections Corporation of America (CCA),
meanwhile, was recently held in contempt for understaffing prisons, and a few
months earlier paid $600,000 to settle another lawsuit over inmate abuse. The
extremely profitable company has also been caught overcrowding prisons to the
point that many inmates sleep on the floor, using gangs to police facilities,

Nov 16, 2012 Albuquerque
Journal
A federal jury in Albuquerque found that the warden of the private contract
women’s prison in Grants and its former chief of security retaliated against
an inmate who reported sexual abuse by an employee at the facility in
violation of her First Amendment rights. The inmate, Lisa Jaramillo, spent 60
days in segregation for reporting seeing another inmate emerge from a room
with a corrections officer. The jury found no negligence by the private,
for-profit contracting giant Corrections Corporation of America, whose
wardens earn bonuses for keeping down complaints. Plaintiffs Lisa Jaramillo
and Kim Chavez alleged that CCA’s failure to abide by its own policies
requiring an officer to be present when an inmate was in the medical unit led
to sexual abuse of both of them. Both women are still completing criminal
sentences but are no longer at the New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility.
Both were inmates in 2008 when a male nurse employed by Correctional Medical
Services, Roger Bustamante, allegedly assaulted them. He was later escorted
off the premises and fired. Four women sued Bustamante, CMS, CCA and
individual prison officials including Warden Arlene Hickson and former
security chief Robert Ulibarri, who was also discharged from employment
there. The jury on Thursday awarded Jaramillo a total of $6,000 in
compensatory damages against Ulibarri and Hickson and a total of $60,000 in
punitive damages against the two. Because that claim was brought under
federal law, attorneys Mark Fine, and American Civil Liberties Union lawyers
Maureen Sanders and Laura Schauer Ives will be able to claim attorney fees
for bringing the action. “We consider this to be a tremendous victory that
the jury acknowledged that women who report sexual abuse are retaliated
against — and that silence serves to suppress reports,” said Ives, the
managing attorney of the New Mexico ACLU. Daniel Struck, the Phoenix attorney
for CCA, left town before the verdict was returned and wasn’t available for
comment.

Nov 6, 2012 Albuquerque Journal
A woman who was serving a 13-year forgery sentence at the Grants Women’s
Correctional Facility in 2007 told a jury Monday that she was initially
flattered by the flirtations of a male nurse when she went to the medical
unit to strip and wax the floors.
But the first blush of feeling flattered soon turned to disgust, Lisa
Jaramillo testified before U.S. District Judge Judith Herrera. Jaramillo was
the first witness in the trial over the alleged sexual assault of her and
another woman at the prison run by Corrections Corporation of America under a
state contract. CCA, the nation’s largest private, for-profit prison
operator, provided the facility with security, and a separate, unrelated
company, Correctional Medical Services, staffed the medical unit.
Only Jaramillo and Kim Chavez remain as plaintiffs among the four women who
filed the lawsuit in 2009, because settlements were reached with the two
others. The claims include retaliation after reporting the assault, as well
as the assault itself.
Jaramillo, who said she came from a “family of addicts” in Las Cruces, spoke
softly and dabbed at her eyes as she described jerking away when the nurse,
Roger Bustamante, forced her hand down his pants and then yanked down her
pants and assaulted her after the rebuff. Jaramillo had earned a certificate
in cleaning while in prison and was alone in the medical unit without a
corrections officer as a monitor, despite rules calling for an officer to be
present. An assistant warden had asked Jaramillo to teach Chavez how to
operate the buffing and waxing machinery, but both women had to leave the
medical units and return to their cells after three hours when a bell sounded
for a regular count of inmates. Jaramillo came back to the medical unit
before Chavez. As Jaramillo bolted from the room after the assault in tears,
she said she saw a female nurse whom she avoided and then ran into Chavez and
told her what had happened. Attorney Mark Fine, who represents the women
inmates, told jurors in his opening statement that the 2003 Prison Rape
Elimination Act, signed into law by President George W. Bush, sets national
standards to prevent rape in prisons. By the end of trial, he said, it will
become clear that under the act, it’s not OK for a prison official to have
sex with an inmate. Daniel Struck, the Phoenix attorney defending CCA, said
the case was about “hustling.” “Those are not my words,” he said, adding that
they were a term Jaramillo used to refer to herself. He portrayed Jaramillo
as a troublemaker with over 25 disciplinary infractions and suggested she had
embellished the incident in each telling. Jaramillo acknowledged infractions
when she was questioned by Fine and said she’d made many bad decisions in her
life. But she said that when she referred to “hustling,” it meant trying to
get more or better food or tobacco, and was not about selling her body.— This
article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal

July 25, 2012 KRQE
An audit of prison records begun last week has found a
inmate at the women's prison in Grants who was supposed to be released last
November. State Corrections Secretary Gregg Marcantel said the statewide
audit of the approximately 6,600 inmate records began at the New Mexico
Women's Correctional Facility. "Our standards, evaluation, and findings
must remain transparent if we are to remain aware what is expected of our
service," Marcantel said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.
"This finding represents our commitment (of) vigorously looking at yourself." The nearly nine-month delay in releasing
of Shera Winings was blamed on an employee of Corrections Corporation of
America, which operates the prison. Winings, who had been held on a probation
violation since October 2009, was released on Saturday.

March 17, 2012 Albuquerque
Journal
The companies that operate private prisons where New Mexico state inmates
serve their time have racked up nearly $1.6 million in penalties for
understaffing and other contract violations since the Martinez administration
started cracking down last year. Nearly all of that was attributable to
problems at The GEO Group Inc.’s prison in Hobbs, although the company’s
Clayton prison was recently added to the penalty list. The Corrections
Corporation of America, which operates the women’s prison in Grants, also has
been fined during the past couple of months, mostly for having inmates in the
prison after their release dates. Reversing the practice of the previous
administration, Republican Gov. Susana Martinez decided to pursue the
penalties the state is entitled to impose for contract violations. “In
today’s struggling economy, the people of New Mexico deserve to know the
Corrections Department is running in a fiscally responsible manner,”
Corrections Secretary Gregg Marcantel said this week in a statement. The
department recently revived its Office of Inspector General to keep tabs on
contract compliance. Such fines are discretionary, and former Democratic Gov.
Bill Richardson’s administration gave private prisons a pass, irking
lawmakers who estimated that upwards of $18 million could have been
collected. Richardson’s corrections chief, Joe Williams – who claimed that
estimate was inflated – said that prisons already were paying substantial
overtime costs, that understaffing was largely due to factors beyond their
control, and that the facilities were safe and secure. Williams worked at
Hobbs for GEO’s predecessor company before Richardson hired him, and he
returned to GEO’s corporate offices in Boca Raton, Fla., at the end of
Richardson’s tenure. After negotiations with the Martinez administration, GEO
in January paid a $1.1 million fine for violations at the Lea County
Correctional Facility in Hobbs for the period from January through October of
2011. GEO also agreed to put another $200,000 into recruitment over the
subsequent year. GEO continued to be penalized: $158,529 for November,
$139,621 for December, $78,710 for January and $84,753 for February,
according to documents provided by the department. The February assessment
isn’t final yet, because the company has until late this month to respond to
it. The fines largely were due to vacancies in the ranks of correctional
officers and in noncustodial positions such as teachers, counselors and
treatment providers. Corrections officials have said it’s difficult for the
men’s medium security lockup at Hobbs to recruit and keep corrections
officers because it’s competing with the oil industry. An assessment of
$2,570 for understaffing in January was proposed for GEO’s Northeastern New
Mexico Detention Facility in Clayton, but the problem had been corrected by
the time the department sent a letter to the prison on Feb. 10, and no
penalty was assessed. In early March, however, the department notified the
Clayton prison that it would be fined $5,373 for February, for vacancies in
mandatory posts and for two inmates imprisoned beyond their release date.
That penalty is pending. GEO did not respond to requests from the Journal for
comment. The Corrections Corporation of America, which operates the New
Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants, was fined $11,779 for
January, and $9,974 for February – still pending – for an academic instructor
vacancy and for inmates held beyond their release dates. Inspector General
Shannon McReynolds said that occurs when the required parole plans aren’t
developed in a timely way.

April 25, 2011 The New Mexican
The two for-profit firms that run four of New Mexico's 10 prisons often
struggle to keep correctional officer jobs filled, state records show. One in
five such jobs at a Hobbs facility was vacant for much of the past 15 months,
while the prison in Santa Rosa reported a vacancy rate of around 12.5 percent
over the same period, according to the records. By contract, New Mexico can
penalize The GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America, the two firms
that operate the facilities, when staffing vacancies are at 10 percent or
more for 30 consecutive days. It's a threshold that appears to have been crossed
multiple times at all four prisons since January 2010. The vacancy rate at
Hobbs topped the 10-percent threshold in each of the 14 months for which data
was available between January 2010 and March of this year. Meanwhile, the
10-percent threshold was topped nine times over that period at Santa Rosa and
six times at a Clayton facility. Like the Hobbs facility, both are run by
GEO. A CCA-operated prison in Grants topped the 10 percent rate four times
over the same period. Whether to penalize the out-of-state, for-profit firms
is an issue that has come up before. The question surfaced last year when
state lawmakers were struggling to find ways to close a yawning state budget
gap. At the time, the Legislature's budget arm, the Legislative Finance Committee,
estimated Gov. Bill Richardson's administration had skipped $18 million in
penalties against the two firms. One powerful lawmaker said Monday the issue
is still important and the Legislature shouldn't lose sight of it. "We'd
like to follow up and perhaps do a performance group
review on the private prison operators to see whether they are making
excessive profits," Rep. Luciano "Lucky" Varela, D-Santa Fe,
said of the Legislative Finance Committee. Varela, the committee chairman,
said he can accept a reasonable return for the prison operators, but high
vacancy rates at prisons operated by the firms raise questions about how
state dollars are being spent to operate the facilities. Determining whether
the companies should be penalized for high vacancy rates is an involved
process, a Corrections Department spokesman said. GEO and CCA might have
asked corrections officers already on the job to work overtime to address the
staffing situation. If they did, the department "cannot in good faith
consider that position to be vacant," spokesman Shannon McReynolds wrote
in an email. But the state doesn't know whether that happened. That would
require going through shift rosters at each privately operated facility,
McReynolds said in a follow-up phone interview. "That will take a
decision from the administration," McReynolds said, referring to new
Corrections Secretary Lupe Martinez. "We do not have specifics on
overtime. Every once in awhile we'll hear a particular facility has spent a
lot on overtime." Because of sporadic record-keeping at the facilities
GEO and CCA operate, the state corrections agency couldn't verify last year
how often the two firms violated the vacancy-rate provision in their
contracts, if at all. As a result, the agency couldn't corroborate or refute
the Legislative Finance Committee's estimate of uncollected penalties. Joe
Williams, then-corrections secretary, decided not to pursue penalizing the
two companies, saying GEO and CCA were making a good-faith effort to keep the
facilities staffed. The contracts give the corrections secretary discretion
to waive the penalties. If Lupe Martinez, the new corrections secretary,
decides to collect penalties, it would be only for January 2011 and onward,
McReynolds said. Gov. Susana Martinez took power in January and soon
afterward appointed Lupe Martinez, no relation, as her corrections secretary.
According to state records, of the four privately operated prisons, Lea
County Correctional Facility in Hobbs has struggled
the most to keep correctional officers on the job. The facility's vacancy
rate hovered above 20 percent for 12 of the 14 months for which there was
data between January 2010 and March of this year. That includes seven
consecutive months — September 2010 through March — when the vacancy rate was
25.24 percent, records show. GEO-run Guadalupe County Correctional Facility
in Santa Rosa reported a 16.93 percent vacancy rate last July, a high point.
The vacancy rate has hovered below 10 percent in five of the last seven
months. Another GEO-run facility, the Northeast New Mexico Correctional
Facility in Clayton, showed a similar trend, reporting vacancy rates higher
than 10 percent for six of the seven months for which data was available
between January and August 2010. Data for July 2010 was missing. As in Santa
Rosa, the Clayton facility's vacancy rate has dropped in recent months. The
state's fourth privately operated prison, CCA-run New Mexico Women's
Correctional Facility in Grants, reported a vacancy rate above 10 percent
four times from January 2010 to July 2010, with a 16.47 percent vacancy rate
reported in July. The state corrections agency did not have data for August
2010 to March 2011.

September 10, 2010 New Mexico
Independent
The state appears to have been within its rights last year to repeatedly
penalize two private prison operators for letting their vacancy rates hover
above a 10 percent trigger in their contracts, state records show. By
contract New Mexico can levy penalties against the two firms – GEO Group and
Corrections Corp. of America (CCA) — when staffing vacancies at the
facilities they manage in Hobbs, Grants, Clayton and Santa Rosa stay at 10
percent or more for 30-consecutive days. Staffing levels at three of the four
privately operated facilities hovered above 10 percent for much of last year,
state records show. As for the fourth facility, the vacancy rate was above
the 10 percent trigger in six of the 13 months the state records covered.
Corrections Secretary Joe Williams, who worked for GEO before Gov. Bill
Richardson tapped him as corrections secretary, told The Independent last
week the state had never penalized GEO or CCA despite vacancy rates
repeatedly topping the 10 percent trigger. He had the discretion to decide
whether to penalize the firms or not, and he had decided against it, Williams
said. The firms were doing a good job of managing the prisons, he added. Some
state lawmakers are wondering why Williams never assessed the penalties. Some
believe the never-assessed penalties could amount to millions of dollars.
State records show that vacancies at GEO-operated Guadalupe County
Correctional Facility in Santa Rosa were above the 10 percent threshold in 11
of the13 months between July 2009 to July 2010; 10 of the 13 months at the
GEO-run Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs; and nine of the 13 months
at the CCA-operated New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants. The
vacancy rate at the GEO-run Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility
eclipsed the 10 percent rate in six of the 13 months covered by the time period
shown in the records, state records show. The agency on Friday reiterated
Williams’ discretion in deciding whether to penalize the companies or not.
“The contract clauses that deal with vacancy rates gives sole discretion to
NMCD so that they may penalize the private prisons,” read an e-mail to The
Independent after we had sent questions related to the vacancy rates from
July 2009 to July 2010. “The penalties are not mandatory and are decided by
the department,” the e-mail continued. “Secretary Williams will be presenting
the reasons to why he has not penalized the vendors to the Legislative
Finance Committee in an upcoming hearing. The department welcomes you to
attend the committee hearing.”

December 14, 2009 Cibola Beacon
A former education director at the New Mexico Women's Correctional Facility
has been indicted on a second degree felony count of criminal sexual
penetration of an inmate. Charles Buccigrossi, 65, former education director
at the Correctional Corporations of America facility, made sexual contact
with an inmate, according to a Grants Police Department report. Officers were
dispatched to the prison on Aug. 10 in response to investigate the
allegation. According to court documents, the inmate was cleaning the
director's office when she claimed Buccigrossi instructed her to have sex
with him. According to the affidavit and the victim's statement, he told the
inmate she would “stay doing more time” if she refused. The inmate's account
of the incident revealed evidence that was found in Buccigrossi's office,
which was searched for evidence later that day. A DNA lab test showed
Buccigrossi is the only person who could have left his DNA at the scene of
the crime. According to GPD's Detective Kevin Dobbs and the state's statues;
any sexual contact, coerced or forced in considered criminal when an inmate
is confined in a correctional facility or jail and the perpetrator is in
authority over the inmate.

October 28, 2009 The New
Mexican
The state of New Mexico would have to shutter two prisons, give early
releases to up to 660 prisoners and lay off and
furlough Corrections Department employees if Gov. Bill Richardson signs
budget cuts approved by the Legislature, his office said Wednesday.
Richardson's office raised that grim possibility as his staff analyzes the
impact of $253 million in spending cuts legislators passed during a special
session last week to deal with a revenue shortfall. His administration on
Monday had said other cuts approved by the Legislature could mean the state
Human Services Department would reduce children's health care, nutrition
programs for seniors and programs for the developmentally disabled, if he
were to sign the measures. But lawmakers say they won't be blamed for
decisions that are now up to Richardson. "He wants it to seem like we're
making the decisions," said House Minority Whip Keith Gardner,
R-Roswell. "But he's making the calls where he wants to cut. He's making
that decision." The Corrections Department said that in order to meet
$21 million in budget cuts, it would have to close the Roswell Correctional
Center in Hagerman and the New Mexico Women's Correctional Facility in
Grants. About 270 inmates are incarcerated at the state-operated Roswell
facility, while about 590 are housed in the Grants facility, which is
operated by the Corrections Corporation of America. The state would have to
cancel its contract with the company.

September 19, 2007 AP
The state Court of Appeals has ruled that a private prison company is not
entitled to a refund of taxes for operating prisons that house inmates for
the state and federal governments. Corrections Corporation of America had
sought a refund of state gross receipts taxes, claiming it was allowed a
deduction for the leasing of its prisons under agreements with the Department
of Corrections and the federal Bureau of Prisons. The Court of Appeals
concluded Tuesday there was no lease of real property. "The fact that
CCA had the right to fill up any extra space with inmates from other
jurisdictions coupled with the governmental entities' paying based on the
number of inmates housed, makes these agreements look more like those between
'hotels, motels, rooming houses, and other facilities' and 'lodgers or
occupants' than leases for real property," the court said in an opinion
written by Judge Michael Bustamante. The company built and owns prisons used
by the state and other governments: the New Mexico Women's Correctional
Facility in Grants, the Cibola County Correctional Center near Milan and the
Torrance County Detention Facility at Estancia. In 2002, the company filed
for a refund of nearly $2.5 million for taxes from January 1999 to October
2002. A state district court in Santa Fe ruled against the company in 2005.

September 18, 2007 AP
The state Court of Appeals has ruled that a private prison company isn't
entitled to a refund of taxes for operating prisons that house inmates for
the state and federal governments. Corrections Corporation of America had
sought a refund of state gross receipts taxes. The company claimed a deduction
for the leasing of its prisons under agreements with the Department of
Corrections and the federal Bureau of Prisons. The court ruled today that
there was no lease of real property. In 2002, the company filed for a refund
of nearly $2.5 million for taxes from January 1999 to October 2002. In its
appeal, the company dropped some claims but didn't specify the amount of
refund it was seeking. CCA operates a prison at Grants that houses state
female inmates. It also has a prison in Torrance County and contracts with
the Bureau of Prisons to hold federal inmates near Milan in Cibola County.

August 30, 2007 Cibola Beacon
The Beacon recently received several calls from residents concerned about the
safety of the community because of the staff shortage in the areas prisons.
All three prisons, Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Grants, Cibola
County Corrections Center (AKA Four C's) in Milan and the New Mexico Women's
Correctional Facility, also in Grants, are currently in need of correctional
officers. Four C's in Milan is the most needful of officers. Currently, it is
38 officers short. The facility has a total of 159 CO positions,
therefore it is now understaffed by 24 percent. “First, there is absolutely
no risk to be concerned about,” Warden Walt Wells said on Wednesday. “We
continually analyze the staff to be sure we have the adequate staff to
protect our inmates, employees and the community. We'll never let it fall to
the level to where there is a risk.” According to Warden Allan Cooper at the
Grants women's facility, Americans Corrections Association says the ratio of
inmate to corrections officer should be about 580 inmates to 76 staff, about
65 of the latter being correctional officers. “The public will never be at
risk,” said Cooper. Cooper's Administrative Assistant, Lisa Riley, said they
have to fill all the posts no matter what. “If it costs us lots of overtime,
that doesn't matter,” Riley said. “We have our requirements that have to met by the state.”

August 4, 2006 Cibola Beacon
The New Mexico Corrections Department recently announced the settlement of an
ACLU lawsuit against it includes a proviso that the department will not be
releasing inmates early. “This agreement gives us the confidence that
offenders will not be released from prison early, especially since the
department currently has adequate capacity,” said Corrections Department
Secretary Joe R. Williams. After the lawsuit was filed in April, corrections
officials authorized the move of 68 minimum-security female inmates from
Grants Women's Correctional Facility to temporary holding at the Regional
Correctional Center in downtown Albuquerque until Camino Nuevo opened last
month. Camino was the former Children's Youth and Family juvenile detention
center in Albuquerque and will hold up to 192 women. The ACLU contended that
the corrections secretary is mandated by state law to create a Population
Control Commission to address the overpopulation problem within 30 days after
a facility is deemed overcrowded. The commission must convene in 60 days, and
at the 30-day point Williams must provide the commission with a list of
non-violent offenders, who are slated for release within six months. The
Corrections Corporation of America built the Grants facility in 1989 for 200
female convicts, and expanded in 1995 to include 118 more beds and
educational work areas. It houses women inmates from minimum to
maximum-security levels, and its highest capacity is 611. Its current
population is 605 as of Thursday morning.

July 21, 2006 AP
The American Civil Liberties Union dropped a lawsuit Thursday against the
state Corrections Department after Secretary Joe Williams agreed to convene a
special commission to address overcrowding at the women's prison near Grants.
The action ended a dispute that began when the civil-rights organization sued
in April. The ACLU claimed the agency wasn't complying with a 2002 law that
provides for early release of nonviolent prisoners when a prison is over
capacity for two months. Officials subsequently moved 68 women from the New Mexico
Women's Correctional Facility to a privately operated Albuquerque jail.
Corrections officials argued that the shift meant the Grants prison no longer
was over capacity.

June 21, 2006 Gallup
Independent
The veteran warden of the New Mexico Women's Correction Facility in Grants
has retired, according to a spokesman for Corrections Corporation of America.
CCA operates the prison on Grants east side under a contract with the state
of New Mexico's Corrections Department. Bill Snodgrass has been succeeded, at
least temporarily, by Barbara Wagner as interim warden. She is the first
warden of the Camino Nuevo Corrections Center in Albuquerque, opened to
relieve overcrowding at the 596-bed female facility. The excess number of
women being held in Grants was reduced by the recent transfers to Camino
Nuevo long after a lawsuit against the state for violating prisoners' civil
rights. Steve Owen of CCA headquarters in Nashville denied that Snodgrass had
been let go, commenting, "When you get a new management team, the
administration often assesses its key management personnel and it is not
uncommon to have some changes made. When you are going with a new management
style, you want to be sure you want to be sure you have the right people in
place." The word going around the community was that in addition to
Snodgrass departing, four others were escorted from the compound on Sakeluras
Boulevard. And a week later, another four or five also were given the boot.

April 14, 2006 Cibola Beacon
New Mexico ACLU executive director Peter Simonson recently announced the
organization filed legal papers to force the New Mexico Department of
Corrections to rectify inmate overcrowding at the New Mexico Women’s
Correctional Facility in Grants. Simonson said the ACLU has told DOC Secretary
Joe Williams it needs to see progress in solving the overcrowding and other
problems at the women’s facility. “He knew … about a month ago there would be
a lawsuit. The ACLU stated that the overcrowding has contributed to tensions,
fighting and even problems for the facility’s employees. In addition, ACLU
contends sewage backups into the living areas resulted in corrections
officers having to wear masks because of the smell.

November 22, 2005 Cibola Beacon
Tia Bland of the New Mexico Corrections Department reported Friday that she
still has not been served with the lawsuit filed by the Freedom From Religion
Foundation. The suit alleges the NMCD, Corrections Corporation of America
(CCA) and other related defendants are violating First Amendment rights by using
taxpayer funds to support religious indoctrination as a component of the
programming provided to prison inmates. Bland said, "The corrections
department pays the CCA to house inmates and how they break that down is a
question for CCA." In a previous Beacon story, CCA claimed that
volunteers provided the faith-based resources.

November 8, 2005 BBS News
A state-funded fundamentalist Christian prison ministry program ("God
pod") in a women's prison in New Mexico is being challenged in federal
court by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a state/church watchdog. The
Foundation filed suit yesterday in the Federal District of New Mexico. The
lawsuit marks the sixth faith-based challenge by the national association of
atheists and agnostics, working to keep state and church separate. The
Foundation has brought and won more legal challenges against the
"faith-based initiative" than any other group. The Foundation, as a
plaintiff, is joined by six taxpaying New Mexico Foundation members: Martin
Boyd, M.D., Jesse V. Chavez; Ernie and Sabina Hirshman; Peter Viviano, and
Paul Weinbaum. Defendants are: New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson; Joe R.
Williams, Secretary of the New Mexico Corrections Department; Homer Gonzales,
coordinator of faith-based programs for the New Mexico Corrections
department; Bill Snodgrass, warden, New Mexico Women's Correctional Facility,
and the Corrections Corporation of America. The extent to which
"faith-based" programs are being promoted in New Mexico prisons is
indicated by a recent statement by Corrections Secretary Joe Williams. He
told the American Correctional Conference in Phoenix in January 2005:
"Don't forget that Jesus Christ himself was a prisoner" (The Santa
Fe Reporter, March 9. 2005). The State of New Mexico contracts with the private
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) to provide prison services. CCA, the
largest private provider of prison services in the country, manages the
women's prison in Grants, N. M., which offers an exclusively faith-based
segregation pod. Officially, the Grants program is called the "Life
Principles Community/Crossings Program."

December 5, 2002Tana Morris, a 30-year-old inmate at the Women's Correctional
Facility in Grants, filed a civil complaint in state district court on Monday
against the Department of Corrections and Bill Snodgrass, the warden of the
Grants facility, seeking compensation for her current and future health
problems she claims are the result of constant exposure to secondhand smoke
in the prison."I have never even
smoked even one cigarette in my life, and this 24-hour exposure to secondhand
smoke is of grave concern to me ...," Morris states in her complaint.
"I have young children who deserve to have a healthy mother.At this point, my health is rapidly
deteriorating due to my living conditions, and the idea of being healthy is
looking to be out of my reach." Department of Corrections spokesman
Gerges Scott said the Grants facility has its own smoking policy because it
is operated privately by Corrections Corporation of America, but a telephone
operator at the Grants facility said the jail follows the state's
guidelines.State Sen. Joseph Carraro,
R-Albuquerque, said the department's policy allowing prisoners to smoke was a
lawsuit waiting to happen. Carraro authored a failed bill this past
legislative session that would have banned

smoking in prisons.
He claimed the state is already paying millions of dollars a

year
in health care for prisoners and might be liable for inmate health problems
that are the result of first- or secondhand smoke. (Santa Fe New
Mexican.com)

Northeast New Mexico Detention Facility
Clayton, New Mexico
GEO GroupFeb 18, 2015 courthousenews.com
SANTA FE, N.M. (CN) - A prison doctor in New Mexico sexually assaults inmates
with rectal exams for everything from tooth pain to toenail fungus, seven
inmates claim in lawsuits. The prisoners - four in one case and three in the
other - claim that Dr. Mark Walden regularly performed "digital rectal
exams" for no legitimate medical reason, sometimes without wearing
gloves, and fondled them inappropriately. One claims he was given a digital
"prostate exam" after reporting an infection in his ankle. Another
one claims Walden digitally penetrated him on three occasions. When he asked
the doctor what he was doing, "Dr. Walden claimed he was milking the
plaintiff's prostate and other medically nonsensical responses,"
according to the complaint. Lead plaintiff D.S. sued The Geo Group, Corizon,
Dr. Walden, the warden of the Northeast New Mexico Detention Facility in
Clayton, Timothy B. Hatch, and the prison's health services administrator
Sherry Phillips, on Feb. 13 in Santa Fe County Court. The Geo Group is one of
the nation's largest for-profit private prison operators. Corizon is a major provider
of medical services to prisons. In the second lawsuit, filed Feb. 16 in the
same court, lead plaintiff C.G. sued Walden, The Geo Group, Corizon,
Correctional Medical Services, Warden Hatch, and
Erasmo Bravo, warden of the Guadalupe County Correction Facility, in Santa
Rosa. The inmates claim the wardens and prison staff knew about the sexual
assaults but did nothing to stop them. In both cases, the inmates claim they
repeatedly filed complaints and reports of the sexually inappropriate medical
procedures, but that their grievances were either ignored,
"lost," or met with retaliation, such as administrative
segregation. The Feb. 13 lawsuit claims that prison staff became suspicious
shortly after Walden was hired, and that the suspicions were based on "a
sudden notable increase in volume of digital rectal exams being performed,
un-indicated digital rectal exams on young inmates, refusal by defendant
Walden to have a third party present during exams, and lack of semen samples
being sent to the lab for analysis." The inmates claim that the private
medical companies discouraged staff from reporting their concerns, for fear
of being sued. Plaintiffs in the Feb. 13 lawsuit seek punitive damages of
medical malpractice, negligence, gross negligence, assault and battery and
civil rights violations. They are represented by Stephen Lawless, of
Albuquerque. Plaintiffs in the Feb. 16 lawsuit seek damages for medical
malpractice, negligence, gross negligence and civil rights violations. They
are represented by Derek Garcia, of Albuquerque.

Nov 2, 2013 abqjournal.com

A former prison physician accused
of fondling multiple inmates during medical exams at two contract men’s
prisons in New Mexico is under criminal investigation by the U.S. Department
of Justice. Dr. Mark Walden has also been suspended from the practice of
medicine and has filed a notice of bankruptcy. The Justice Department’s
notification to Walden that he is the target of an inquiry into the alleged
violation of inmates’ civil rights is revealed in documents filed in three
civil lawsuits now consolidated in U.S. District Court. Documents say Walden
was notified in writing that “he is the target of a criminal investigation
regarding alleged sexual abuse of male inmates at the Northeastern New Mexico
Correctional Facility in Clayton and at the Guadalupe County Correctional
Facility in Santa Rosa.” The prisons are privately operated by Corizon Inc.
The civil lawsuits against Walden, Corizon and others were filed on behalf of
about three dozen current or former inmates at the two prisons by attorneys
Katie Curry, Brad Hall and Frances Crockett Carpenter. Defendants moved the
case to federal court. Walden’s attorney in the civil lawsuit said she does
not comment on pending litigation. But in an answer she filed on behalf of
Walden in one of the civil lawsuits, he denied performing any digital rectal
exams that were not medically necessary or that were inappropriate in length
or methodology. He denies sexually abusing inmates at anytime or that any
conduct on his part was unreasonable, cruel or harmful. Walden also contends
that the claims are barred by the statute of limitations and the Prison
Litigation Reform Act and the New Mexico Tort Claims Act. The inmates have
made claims in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to protect any recovery they may receive
in the civil litigation. U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Torgerson stayed the
civil cases in August until the bankruptcy is resolved. Walden was entitled
to an automatic stay by virtue of his bankruptcy filing. Torgerson extended the
stay to other defendants, including Walden’s former employer The Geo Group
Inc., now called Corizon, wardens Erasmo Bravo and Timothy Hatch, and the
health services administrator. There are no details on the Justice
investigation, which has apparently been underway since before the civil
litigation began in March. According to a statement from Corizon, the company
“is unaware of any criminal proceedings being filed at this time. We will
cooperate fully with any investigations related to this matter.” The wardens,
Geo and Corizon filed answers in the civil cases in which they have denied
allegations of negligent hiring and supervisions, medical malpractice and
civil rights violations. The inmates have asked the court to permit the
litigation to go forward without revealing the names of the plaintiffs
because of the potential of greater harm and victimization. But one of
Walden’s attorneys in the civil suits has denied sexual abuse allegations
contained in the request and opposed the request for anonymity, saying inmate
lawyers are engaged in a media campaign to “impact the pending litigation.”
Walden’s attorney Nicole Charlebois said in a written filing that the unnamed
plaintiffs attacked Walden in the media before even serving him with the
complaint. Plaintiffs’ lawyers, she said in the filing, are “manipulating the
underlying litigation, tainting the public perception and tainting the
potential jury pool,” and that Walden has a right to know his accusers,
“especially in light of their aggressive media tactics.” Suspension: The New
Mexico Medical Board suspended Walden from practice in July, after sending
him notice of contemplated action and getting input from two physicians hired
as experts who reviewed available records. The board ordered Walden to undergo
a thorough psychological evaluation arranged by the New Mexico Monitored
Treatment Program, which was to send its findings and recommendations to the
board for review. The recommendations “must demonstrate to the board’s
satisfaction that (Walden) is fit to safely practice medicine.” The board
will then determine his further licensure status. The board hired as experts a urologist with 33 years experience, including 5˝ years
participating in a prison clinic, and an emergency medicine physician
described as having expertise in correctional medicine. The urologist said
his review of the evidence indicated “sexual contact with a patient” by
Walden on many occasions that were not legitimate medical procedures and
constituted sexual abuse. The second physician found that Walden had not
breached the standard of care and that his treatment of inmates was
appropriate for the patient complaints documented in medical records. That
doctor questioned the credibility of the inmates’ statements “because several
of them indicated (Walden) had examined them without gloves, which (he) found
very unlikely to have actually occurred.” Walden invoked his Fifth Amendment
right and refused to testify at the medical board hearing.

Among over 40 pages of proposed
factual findings:

•Walden regularly performed
digital rectal examinations of inmate patients in their 20s and 30s. The
Clayton prison offered exams routinely for men over age 50 and for men under
50 if they had specific complaints warranting such an exam.

•He did twice as many rectal exams
each month as any other doctor at the Clayton facility, according to a prison
nurse.

•A 40-year-old patient at the
prison in Clayton asked a corrections officer as the inmate left the medical
unit in July 2012 “if (Walden) was gay, and expressed discomfort with the
examination he had received.” The officer prepared a statement based on the
inmate’s statements that the doctor had turned him over and stroked his
genitals. That was the only comment about any presumed sexual orientation of
the doctor.

•Another patient reported on Aug.
5, 2012, that Walden had “played with” his testicles without gloves.

•A 28-year-old inmate reported
that Walden called him for medical exams for three weeks straight on a Friday
or Saturday, gave him a rectal exam and studied his penis.

•Another inmate filed a grievance
about an Aug. 20, 2012, incident in which he said Walden asked him to drop
his pants, rubbed his genitals and asked if it felt good.

•In patient statements provided by
the facilities in response to a subpoena by the board, Walden diagnosed a
prostate condition not confirmed by an independent analysis.

•Inmate patients are generally not
referred out because of time, expense and safety issues in transporting
prisoners off site.

•Only one patient at Santa Rosa
filed a grievance with a nurse.

The hearing officer noted inmates
“may be manipulative and will commonly do things for purposes of secondary
gain,” such as getting strong pain medicine, special shoes or mattresses.

Mar 17, 2013 abqjournal.com

A New Mexico inmate claims he got
an overly long and intrusive rectal exam when he went to the prison doctor
for a torn meniscus in his knee. And his complaint isn’t the only one.
Eighteen inmates in two separate civil lawsuits claim they were fondled or
given intrusive exams – even when they weren’t needed – by Dr. Mark E.
Walden, the prison physician at the time. The claims that Walden used his
position to sexually abuse inmates are being made by men incarcerated at
prisons in Santa Rosa and Clayton. Both prisons are operated under contract
with the state by the Boca Raton, Fla.-based GEO group, a firm that operates
detention and re-entry facilities in Australia, Canada, South Africa and
Britain, as well as the U.S. Walden was an employee of Corizon, a private
contractor that provides healthcare services at over 349 correctional
facilities across the country. The company, which is based in Tennessee, has
a four-year, $177.6 million contract to provide prison medical services in New
Mexico at both public and privately run prisons. Katie Curry of the McGinn
Law Firm in Albuquerque, attorney for one group of prisoners suing Walden,
GEO Group Inc., Corizon, prison wardens Erasmo Bravo and Timothy Hatch, and
health administrator Sherry Phillips, said another attorney represents
another 10 or so clients with similar complaints. “That’s who has come
forward, but these guys move around a lot (to other prisons),” Curry said. “I
can imagine there are others who are reluctant to come forward.” The lawsuit
filed by Curry alleges at least 25 known victims. The New Mexico Medical
Board is investigating Walden and, on Feb. 18, issued a notice of
contemplated action. No hearing has been scheduled, but it is likely to take
place in April or May, a board spokeswoman said. “As a matter of standing
company policy, Corizon does not comment on any litigation. However, Corizon
can confirm that Dr. Walden is no longer on staff,” said Courtney Eller of
DVL Public Relations & Advertising in Nashville, which handles media
inquiries for Corizon. GEO Group spokesman Pablo Paez said in an email that
the company, as a matter of policy, “cannot comment on litigation related
matters, but we can confirm that Mr. Bravo and Mr. Hatch are employed by GEO
and Dr. Walden is not employed by GEO.” Walden, who is now working in a
medical practice in Raton, did not return a call for comment. He also
allegedly failed to use proper hygiene and disease prevention techniques by
not using gloves when he examined inmates. Prison administrators and Corizon
didn’t ensure that a third person was present to protect the integrity of the
exams, according to at least one of the suits. The potential for sexual abuse
and sexual misconduct toward inmates by prison employees is well-known institutional
problem, the lawsuits say, and administrators have a duty to protect the
inmates. Inmates often view reporting abuse as futile because of the
humiliation and retaliation they risk and the prospect of losing access to
medical services, the complaints say. Doctors have far greater social status
than inmates, further exacerbating the imbalance, they say. GEO and Corizon
should have known about the abuse through inmate reports and the perceptions
of staffers such as nurses, “or kept themselves willfully blind” to it,
according to Curry’s lawsuit. “Corizon and GEO did not encourage reporting or
documentation of these incidents, and enacted no discipline or retraining of
… Walden,” the lawsuit says. Curry said there was a written complaint about
Walden by an inmate in September 2011, “and apparently nothing happens, so
it’s literally like the Catholic church where they know something and
transfer him someplace else.” She said lawyers know a copy of the complaint
went to State Police and that GEO was made aware of it. Walden initially
worked at the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility in Santa Rosa and was
later transferred to the Northeastern New Mexico Detention Facility in
Clayton. One of the consequences of the alleged abuse, Curry said, was that
some inmates stopped going to see Walden, even though they needed medical
treatment. The lawsuit says staff became suspicious after Walden was hired
“based on observations including a sudden notable increase in volume of
digital rectal exams being performed, unindicated digital rectal exams on
young inmates (and) refusal by defendant Walden to have a third party
present.” An inmate who went to Walden for urinary tract issues and had an
examination that was “excessive and inappropriate” and conducted without
gloves reported the incident and had a sexual assault exam performed in Santa
Fe, which revealed two anal tears, according to the lawsuit. “Corizon and GEO
did not encourage reporting or documentation of these incidents, and enacted
no discipline or retraining of … Walden.” - McGINN LAW FIRM: A separate
lawsuit filed by Frances Carpenter of Albuquerque on behalf of nine more
inmates says the abuses began in 2010 and continued through July 2012 during
both routine and “symptom specific” examinations. They included digital anal
penetration and probing and stimulation of the genitals. One inmate who saw
Walden with a request for hemorrhoid cream was told he need to be examined
first, the lawsuit says, and during the exam was penetrated by the doctor’s
“entire ungloved fist.” The inmate, who reported the incidents to prison
officials, continues to have nightmares and anxiety related to the alleged
assault. Both lawsuits, filed in 1st Judicial District Court in Santa Fe,
allege negligent hiring and retention, civil rights violations, negligence
and breach of contract. They seek unspecified compensatory and punitive
damages. Meanwhile, the medical board is expected to set a hearing this
spring based on allegations that Walden, during prostate exams on some 17
inmates, “touched or attempted to touch these inmates in an inappropriate,
sexual manner.” The board notice says Walden was subject to a “corrective
action” for incomplete medical records that led the Union County General
Hospital to terminate his privileges, and he did not report it to the board.
The notice also says Walden’s professional medical liability insurance was
canceled and that he gave incorrect information about it on his license
renewal in 2011. Inmates say routine exams turned into horrific assaultsSee PRISON
on PAGE A9from PAGE A1Prison doctor accused of sex abuse; inmates claim
assaults”Corizon and GEO did not encourage reporting or documentation of
these incidents, and enacted no discipline or retraining of …
Walden.”<quote_attribution>McGINN LAW FIRM

March 17, 2012 Albuquerque
Journal
The companies that operate private prisons where New Mexico state inmates
serve their time have racked up nearly $1.6 million in penalties for
understaffing and other contract violations since the Martinez administration
started cracking down last year. Nearly all of that was attributable to
problems at The GEO Group Inc.’s prison in Hobbs, although the company’s
Clayton prison was recently added to the penalty list. The Corrections
Corporation of America, which operates the women’s prison in Grants, also has
been fined during the past couple of months, mostly for having inmates in the
prison after their release dates. Reversing the practice of the previous
administration, Republican Gov. Susana Martinez decided to pursue the
penalties the state is entitled to impose for contract violations. “In
today’s struggling economy, the people of New Mexico deserve to know the
Corrections Department is running in a fiscally responsible manner,”
Corrections Secretary Gregg Marcantel said this week in a statement. The
department recently revived its Office of Inspector General to keep tabs on
contract compliance. Such fines are discretionary, and former Democratic Gov.
Bill Richardson’s administration gave private prisons a pass, irking lawmakers
who estimated that upwards of $18 million could have been collected.
Richardson’s corrections chief, Joe Williams – who claimed that estimate was
inflated – said that prisons already were paying substantial overtime costs,
that understaffing was largely due to factors beyond their control, and that
the facilities were safe and secure. Williams worked at Hobbs for GEO’s
predecessor company before Richardson hired him, and he returned to GEO’s
corporate offices in Boca Raton, Fla., at the end of Richardson’s tenure.
After negotiations with the Martinez administration, GEO in January paid a
$1.1 million fine for violations at the Lea County Correctional Facility in
Hobbs for the period from January through October of 2011. GEO also agreed to
put another $200,000 into recruitment over the subsequent year. GEO continued
to be penalized: $158,529 for November, $139,621 for December, $78,710 for
January and $84,753 for February, according to documents provided by the
department. The February assessment isn’t final yet, because the company has
until late this month to respond to it. The fines largely were due to
vacancies in the ranks of correctional officers and in noncustodial positions
such as teachers, counselors and treatment providers. Corrections officials
have said it’s difficult for the men’s medium security lockup at Hobbs to
recruit and keep corrections officers because it’s competing with the oil
industry. An assessment of $2,570 for understaffing in January was proposed
for GEO’s Northeastern New Mexico Detention Facility in Clayton, but the
problem had been corrected by the time the department sent a letter to the
prison on Feb. 10, and no penalty was assessed. In early March, however, the
department notified the Clayton prison that it would be fined $5,373 for
February, for vacancies in mandatory posts and for two inmates imprisoned
beyond their release date. That penalty is pending. GEO did not respond to
requests from the Journal for comment. The Corrections Corporation of
America, which operates the New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility in
Grants, was fined $11,779 for January, and $9,974 for February – still
pending – for an academic instructor vacancy and for inmates held beyond
their release dates. Inspector General Shannon McReynolds said that occurs
when the required parole plans aren’t developed in a timely way.

November 16, 2011 KOB
A man convicted of raping and murdering one UNM student and raping another
back in the early 1980's is at UNM Hospital on life support after being
attacked by fellow inmates in prison. The Corrections Department said Michael
Guzman was attacked by more than a dozen inmates just two days after he was
moved to a private prison in Clayton. His family wants answers about the
attack. Guzman's sister said she is not being allowed to visit him at the
hospital because he is an inmate. She has problems with that and wants to
know more about the prison attack. "I do have a lot of serious questions
about the investigation because if my brother was indeed jumped by 15 inmates,
he should have some facial damage," she said. Officials said Guzman was
not stabbed, but they cannot say if any other weapons were used. He is in
intensive care with other patients, along with special security, which is why
family is not allowed in to see him. Corrections said Guzman was moved to
Clayton because he had problems with other inmates at the prison in Santa
Rosa.

April 25, 2011 The New Mexican
The two for-profit firms that run four of New Mexico's 10 prisons often
struggle to keep correctional officer jobs filled, state records show. One in
five such jobs at a Hobbs facility was vacant for much of the past 15 months,
while the prison in Santa Rosa reported a vacancy rate of around 12.5 percent
over the same period, according to the records. By contract, New Mexico can
penalize The GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America, the two firms
that operate the facilities, when staffing vacancies are at 10 percent or
more for 30 consecutive days. It's a threshold that appears to have been crossed
multiple times at all four prisons since January 2010. The vacancy rate at
Hobbs topped the 10-percent threshold in each of the 14 months for which data
was available between January 2010 and March of this year. Meanwhile, the
10-percent threshold was topped nine times over that period at Santa Rosa and
six times at a Clayton facility. Like the Hobbs facility, both are run by
GEO. A CCA-operated prison in Grants topped the 10 percent rate four times
over the same period. Whether to penalize the out-of-state, for-profit firms
is an issue that has come up before. The question surfaced last year when
state lawmakers were struggling to find ways to close a yawning state budget
gap. At the time, the Legislature's budget arm, the Legislative Finance
Committee, estimated Gov. Bill Richardson's administration had skipped $18
million in penalties against the two firms. One powerful lawmaker said Monday
the issue is still important and the Legislature shouldn't lose sight of it.
"We'd like to follow up and perhaps do a performance
group review on the private prison operators to see whether they are
making excessive profits," Rep. Luciano "Lucky" Varela,
D-Santa Fe, said of the Legislative Finance Committee. Varela, the committee
chairman, said he can accept a reasonable return for the prison operators,
but high vacancy rates at prisons operated by the firms raise questions about
how state dollars are being spent to operate the facilities. Determining
whether the companies should be penalized for high vacancy rates is an
involved process, a Corrections Department spokesman said. GEO and CCA might
have asked corrections officers already on the job to work overtime to
address the staffing situation. If they did, the department "cannot in
good faith consider that position to be vacant," spokesman Shannon
McReynolds wrote in an email. But the state doesn't know whether that
happened. That would require going through shift rosters at each privately
operated facility, McReynolds said in a follow-up phone interview. "That
will take a decision from the administration," McReynolds said,
referring to new Corrections Secretary Lupe Martinez. "We do not have
specifics on overtime. Every once in awhile we'll hear a particular facility
has spent a lot on overtime." Because of sporadic record-keeping at the
facilities GEO and CCA operate, the state corrections agency couldn't verify
last year how often the two firms violated the vacancy-rate provision in
their contracts, if at all. As a result, the agency couldn't corroborate or
refute the Legislative Finance Committee's estimate of uncollected penalties.
Joe Williams, then-corrections secretary, decided not to pursue penalizing
the two companies, saying GEO and CCA were making a good-faith effort to keep
the facilities staffed. The contracts give the corrections secretary
discretion to waive the penalties. If Lupe Martinez, the new corrections
secretary, decides to collect penalties, it would be only for January 2011
and onward, McReynolds said. Gov. Susana Martinez took power in January and
soon afterward appointed Lupe Martinez, no relation, as her corrections
secretary. According to state records, of the four privately operated
prisons, Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs has struggled
the most to keep correctional officers on the job. The facility's vacancy
rate hovered above 20 percent for 12 of the 14 months for which there was
data between January 2010 and March of this year. That includes seven
consecutive months — September 2010 through March — when the vacancy rate was
25.24 percent, records show. GEO-run Guadalupe County Correctional Facility
in Santa Rosa reported a 16.93 percent vacancy rate last July, a high point.
The vacancy rate has hovered below 10 percent in five of the last seven
months. Another GEO-run facility, the Northeast New Mexico Correctional
Facility in Clayton, showed a similar trend, reporting vacancy rates higher
than 10 percent for six of the seven months for which data was available
between January and August 2010. Data for July 2010 was missing. As in Santa
Rosa, the Clayton facility's vacancy rate has dropped in recent months. The
state's fourth privately operated prison, CCA-run New Mexico Women's
Correctional Facility in Grants, reported a vacancy rate above 10 percent
four times from January 2010 to July 2010, with a 16.47 percent vacancy rate
reported in July. The state corrections agency did not have data for August
2010 to March 2011.

September 10, 2010 New Mexico
Independent
The state appears to have been within its rights last year to repeatedly
penalize two private prison operators for letting their vacancy rates hover
above a 10 percent trigger in their contracts, state records show. By
contract New Mexico can levy penalties against the two firms – GEO Group and
Corrections Corp. of America (CCA) — when staffing vacancies at the
facilities they manage in Hobbs, Grants, Clayton and Santa Rosa stay at 10
percent or more for 30-consecutive days. Staffing levels at three of the four
privately operated facilities hovered above 10 percent for much of last year,
state records show. As for the fourth facility, the vacancy rate was above
the 10 percent trigger in six of the 13 months the state records covered.
Corrections Secretary Joe Williams, who worked for GEO before Gov. Bill
Richardson tapped him as corrections secretary, told The Independent last
week the state had never penalized GEO or CCA despite vacancy rates
repeatedly topping the 10 percent trigger. He had the discretion to decide
whether to penalize the firms or not, and he had decided against it, Williams
said. The firms were doing a good job of managing the prisons, he added. Some
state lawmakers are wondering why Williams never assessed the penalties. Some
believe the never-assessed penalties could amount to millions of dollars.
State records show that vacancies at GEO-operated Guadalupe County
Correctional Facility in Santa Rosa were above the 10 percent threshold in 11
of the13 months between July 2009 to July 2010; 10 of the 13 months at the
GEO-run Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs; and nine of the 13 months
at the CCA-operated New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants. The
vacancy rate at the GEO-run Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility
eclipsed the 10 percent rate in six of the 13 months covered by the time period
shown in the records, state records show. The agency on Friday reiterated
Williams’ discretion in deciding whether to penalize the companies or not.
“The contract clauses that deal with vacancy rates gives sole discretion to
NMCD so that they may penalize the private prisons,” read an e-mail to The
Independent after we had sent questions related to the vacancy rates from
July 2009 to July 2010. “The penalties are not mandatory and are decided by
the department,” the e-mail continued. “Secretary Williams will be presenting
the reasons to why he has not penalized the vendors to the Legislative
Finance Committee in an upcoming hearing. The department welcomes you to
attend the committee hearing.”

June 17, 2009 New Mexico
Independent
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico is suing a privately-run
prison in Clayton for imposing cruel and unusual punishment, charging that in
December, 2008, prison guards kept seven nude or semi-nude prisoners locked
in a cold shower room for hours after a prison lockdown ended. The suit,
filed today in federal court, claims that prison guards at the Northeast New
Mexico Detention Facility teased and taunted the prisoners and a female guard
videotaped the naked men. After the two-hour lockdown ended, employees told
the inmates that they couldn’t find the key to the shower room door, so the
inmates were given the option of crawling through a filthy cinderblock hole
in the shower room wall or waiting for guards to find the key. Several
prisoners developed skin conditions after the incident and were denied
treatment, the lawsuit charges. The director of corporate relations for the
GEO Group, which manages the prison, declined to comment on the lawsuit,
writing in an e-mail: ”As a matter of policy, our
company does not comment on litigation related matters.” “New Mexico has one
of the largest percentage of inmates housed in privately-run prison
facilities in the country,” Bryan J. Davis, a cooperating attorney for the
ACLU of New Mexico, said in a press release. “These prisons go up, the
employees don’t receive adequate training, and the inmates suffer the
consequences. It’s irresponsible on the part of the private prison companies
and the state that contracts with them.” The lawsuit seeks compensatory and
punitive damages against the GEO Group and several employees.

July 12, 2008 Santa Fe New
Mexican
When the doors swing open on the Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility
next month, inmates will file in, new employees will start collecting
paychecks and a tiny corner of the state will become its own small economic
engine. The opening marks another milestone as well. Once Clayton is online,
the number of inmates living in the state's privately run prisons will almost
match the number living in state-run slammers. To be exact: 46.5 percent of
male inmates will be in prisons run by private companies. The other 53.5
percent will be in state-run prisons. One hundred percent of female inmates
will be in private facilities. If the number of criminals behind private bars
seems big, it is: New Mexico has the highest rate of private prison use in
the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Indeed, the prison
near the Rabbit Ear Mountains in Clayton, just shy of the border with
Oklahoma and Texas in northeastern New Mexico, caps a major shift in state
policy over the past three decades of housing an increasing number of
criminals in privately run prisons. Since 1980, the year a deadly prison riot
made awful headlines for the state, the number of inmates has increased 440 percent.
Including Clayton, the number of prisons has gone from one to 11, a figure
that doesn't include Camino Nuevo, a privately operated prison that has
opened and closed since then. And questions about whether privatizing was the
best choice have mounted. As the state's inmate population grew, so did
lawmakers' interest in private prisons, seen by proponents as a way to save
money and outsource some of the state's toughest jobs. Ten years ago, the
state had only two privately run prisons — the New Mexico Women's
Correctional Facility in Grants, open since 1989, and the Hobbs prison, which
opened in 1998. Now, when Clayton opens, it will have five, spread out around
the state. The change in inmate-management policy didn't happen overnight,
and hasn't happened without controversy. It also couldn't have happened
without two New Mexico governors, most notably former Gov. Gary Johnson, who
kicked off the privatization push, and Gov. Bill Richardson, who has kept the
trend alive. It was under Johnson's watch that the 1,200-bed lockup in Hobbs
opened in 1998. A year later came the 600-bed Santa Rosa prison. Both are run
by The GEO Group, formerly Wackenhut. Those weren't good times; both
facilities suffered deadly confrontations. Three inmates were killed in Hobbs
and a prison guard was murdered in a riot in Santa Rosa in less than a year.
Before that, an inmate in Santa Rosa died after he was beaten with a laundry
bag full of rocks. New Mexico hadn't seen so much prison violence since the
1980 riot at the state penitentiary, where 33 people died. No new state
prisons? When Richardson ran for office in 2002, he pledged there would be no
new state prisons built on his watch. "The governor said he would not
build new state prisons, and he has not done so," spokesman Gilbert
Gallegos said in a statement to The New Mexican. "All of the capital
money that would have been used for new state prisons has instead been
invested in new schools, modernizing highways and updating infrastructure in
communities across the state." Still, since he's been governor, 240 beds
have been added to the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility near Santa
Rosa, run by The GEO Group. The Camino Nuevo Correctional Center in
Albuquerque, operated by the Corrections Corporation of America, opened in 2006.
In 2007 came the 234-bed, minimum-security Springer Correctional Center,
which is run by the state. And then came Clayton.
The town of Clayton is paying to build the facility, which will house 625
inmates, nearly all of them state prisoners. The town is using $63 million in
revenue bonds to finance the project. Clayton officials have welcomed the
prison — and its jobs — as a major source of economic activity in the outpost
of about 2,500. Critics, however, say the lockup is essentially a state
prison. "I guess it's a debate in semantics, but it's holding state
prisoners," said Sen. John Arthur Smith, a Deming Democrat and chairman
of the Senate Finance Committee. "I guess the governor gets a certain
amount of satisfaction in saying the state didn't build it, but from a
functional point of view, the state might as well have built it," he
said. Gallegos said that's not the case. "Of course it's not a state
prison. The town of Clayton and GEO can house county or federal
inmates," he said. "Beds were available for medium-security
inmates, and the Corrections Department chose to take advantage of the new
facility for some of its inmates." Of the 625 beds, 600 will be used for
state prisoners. Others suggest Richardson chose to support the Clayton
project to curry favor in the heavily Republican Union County. "We could
have added a wing or pods to other facilities that could have been
expanded," said Senate Minority Whip Leonard Lee Rawson, R-Las Cruces.
Adding on to places such as Santa Rosa or Hobbs would have been cheaper and
quicker than building a new prison, he added. "But the governor decided
he wanted to build in Clayton for political purposes. We can say it's good economic development, but I don't think it was
the best choice for the public," he said. The Governor's Office denied
that, saying Richardson "already had great relationships with Democrats
and Republicans in Clayton." And, Corrections Department Secretary Joe
Williams said, building the Clayton prison was "absolutely the right decision."
"When we signed those agreements, we were operating at well over 100
percent capacity," he said. "We were busting at the seams when we
did that." In the past two years, however, the state's prison population
has dropped 6.6 percent, a recent report found. Williams said even though
population projections are now much lower than they were when talk of Clayton
first surfaced, the state still needs the facility, particularly because it
will provide beds for medium-custody, or level 3, inmates. "That's where
we need the bed space, and that's what Clayton will provide us," he
said. Inmates from a variety of facilities will be moved to Clayton, which is
expected to be full within 60 days of opening. Questions about Clayton -- As
it gets ready to open, there are other questions about the cost of building
the new prison. A review done for the Legislative Finance Committee in 2007
found that the prison's actual cost will be much higher than the construction
costs, which at the time of the report were estimated to be $61 million. Over
twenty years, the state will pay $132 million in construction and finance
charges, but will not own the building, according to the report. As part of
the $95.33 per diem the state will pay to house inmates in the new prison,
$27.81 will go to pay construction costs. The high cost of building private
prisons has left some lawmakers concerned about whether the state can afford
to keep so many inmates there. Williams said a big part of the reason the
building cost was so high was because construction costs have gone way up.
"You look at the cost of a gallon of gas and then you look at the cost
of a new prison bed, and everything is going to have its increases and it is
inflationary," he said. Williams also pointed out that the cost of labor
has gone up since prisons were built 10 years ago in Hobbs and Santa Rosa.
Other lawmakers have a philosophical opposition to the opening of the Clayton
prison, and to private prisons in general, saying it's the job of the
government, not corporations, to house prisoners. "I don't believe it's
the right way, I don't think they should be for profit," said Senate
Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen. Sanchez said prisons are the
state's responsibility. "Hopefully Clayton will be the last one,"
he said. An inmate drought? It's unclear, however, when the state will need
another new prison. The state was expected to run out of bed space in August
of 2011 for males and in March of 2012 for females, but that's no longer the
case. The most recent projections show the state is expected to run out of
space in 2017 for men and in 2015 for women. The department warns, however,
that those projections are subject to change. "Our projections totally
changed from last year to this year where we were on a spike up, and now we're
growing but at a much smaller pace," Williams said. While it has dropped
off recently, the population is expected to grow by about 1.4 percent in the
coming years. "We're in a great state as far as corrections go for the
first time in many, many years, I think," he said. "I think we're
in a position a lot of states wish they were. We have room and capacity to
grow." So why is the prison population — long on the increase — now
decreasing? A recent report by the New Mexico Sentencing Commission shows the
state's prison population has dropped for several reasons. The study,
released last week, said one reason is a Corrections Department policy that
is increasingly imposing sanctions other than prison for technical parole
violations such as missing a counseling session. The study also said a 2006
state law that allows the department to let nonviolent inmates earn time off
during the first 60 days of their stay is leading to some inmates getting out
of prison sooner. Previously, inmates had to wait to start earning time. It
also said felony drug courts were playing a role. The state now has 31, and
the report says that although the courts are not a diversion option for
prison, they may indirectly keep offenders from being rearrested and going to
prison. The courts provide treatment, mandatory drug testing and judicial
oversight, among other things. But if the projections are now lower than they
have been, that might be a good thing for the Corrections Department. When it
did its report, the LFC found the department wasn't ready for projected
growth. "The department lacks active long-term planning to accommodate
inmate growth, leading to a disjointed approach to acquiring bed space that
proves costly," according to the report. The committee asked the department
to put together a 10-year plan, which it has. But, Williams said, the plan
was outdated almost as soon as it was written. "I didn't like 10-year
plans because things are ever-changing in the department, projections,
forecasts," he said. "It's hard enough to predict year to year or
two years." Williams also pointed out that there are advantages to
having some space available in the state's prisons. The state now has enough
room — and the cash — to refurbish some cells at the state penitentiary and
Western New Mexico Correctional Facility, work that has been a long time
coming, he said. In addition, Williams said the state is considering
implementing recent recommendations of a prison reform task force appointed
by Richardson. "The plan is hopefully this prison reform might change
the way we do business forever," he said. "If we are diverting
people into drug courts and mental health courts and our re-entry initiatives
are successful, it could be a while before we see a new prison."

September 26, 2006 Yahoo.com
The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE: GEO - News; "GEO") announced today that
GEO, the New Mexico Corrections Department ("NMCD"), and the Town
of Clayton, New Mexico (the "Town") have signed agreements for the
construction and operation of the 625-bed Northeast New Mexico Detention
Facility (the "Facility") to be located in Clayton, New Mexico. The
Facility will house medium security offenders for the State of New Mexico
under an Intergovernmental Agreement signed by the Town and NMCD. GEO will
design and build the 625-bed Facility, which will be financed through the
sale of project revenue bonds sponsored by the Town and underwritten by
Citigroup. Upon its expected completion in the first quarter of 2008, GEO
will assume management of the Facility under its contract with the Town for
an initial term of five years with five one-year renewal option periods. Once
the Facility is completed, GEO's operating contract is expected to generate
approximately $11.0 million in annual operating revenues.

July 9, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
SANTA FE— The city of Clayton's proposal to build a privately run prison with
room for 600 medium-security inmates is running into legal questions from
state lawmakers. Legislators want to know whether the city's plan
requires the Legislature's approval and whether it should be subjected to
terms of the state's Procurement Code. The prison would provide an
economic boost for Clayton in the form of roughly 200 corrections jobs. It
would help the state, which Clayton hopes would lease room in the lock-up, with
much-needed new prison space. But three lawmakers this week asked
Attorney General Patricia Madrid for a legal opinion on the plan. The
request for the opinion came from the leaders of the Legislative Finance
Committee and the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee. It was
signed by Rep. Luciano "Lucky" Varela, a Santa Fe Democrat and LFC
chairman, and the co-chairmen of the corrections committee— Sen. Cisco
McSorley, D-Albuquerque, and Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces. Varela
acknowledged the state's need for more prison beds and said he was
sympathetic with the aim of stimulating the northeastern New Mexico
economy. But Varela said legislators have several legal questions about
the plan. "We're looking at the entire issue of whether or not it
is legal for them to build," Varela said.

Otero County Processing Center
Otero County, New Mexico
MTC
January 23, 2011 KASA
A report from the American Civil Liberties Union says a southern New Mexico
center that holds immigrants for possible deportation needs to improve how it
treats them. Immigrants interviewed by the ACLU at the federal immigration
detention center in Otero County complained about prolonged detention,
inadequate food, medical services and legal resources, according to an
Albuquerque Journal copyright story published Sunday. The 1,084-bed Otero
County Processing Center houses immigrants who face deportation proceedings.
Many were taken into custody from the interior of the United States. They
typically have not been charged with crimes other than immigration offenses.
Illegal immigrants charged with federal criminal offenses usually are
deported after completing their sentences, but those imprisoned for state
charges can end up at the facility. Detentions there average about 30 days, but
can be longer for those who fight deportation. The ACLU's report said
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials responded swiftly and
appropriately in several cases, including a request to dim lighting in the
solitary unit, where bright lights were on 24 hours a day. Many detainees
said, however, they were threatened with solitary confinement if they filed
complaints. The report also said that when they are filed, some
"reported never even receiving a response to their grievance." The
processing center, financed by Otero County, is operated by the private
Utah-based Management and Training Corp., under contract with ICE. The
facility, with 20 dormitories of 50 beds and a more secure unit of 84 beds,
houses an average of 890 detainees. The ACLU received complaints about
conditions at the Otero County facility from more than 200 detainees since
2008. The report also is based on 42 interviews with those housed there from
fall 2009 through June 2010. An MTC spokesman referred questions to a
Texas-based spokeswoman for ICE, Leticia Zamarripa. "ICE carefully
considers the recommendations offered to further improve its
operations," she said. Detainees also complained about restrictive
policies, such as short weekly visits from family and outdoor recreation to
an enclosed, concrete courtyard with only a view of the sky. One detainee
reported vomiting repeatedly and suffering acute stomach pains for two or
three days before the clinical staff gave him ibuprofen and an antacid. He
later was hospitalized for three weeks.

Regional Correctional Center
Albuquerque, New Mexico
GEO Group (bought Cornell Corrections)
April 4, 2011 Albuquerque Journal
Raw sewage bubbled up around inmates' ankles six or seven times last month at
the Regional Correctional Center prison Downtown, an inmate said in a written
declaration presented to the federal judge overseeing a long-running prison
conditions lawsuit Thursday. Inmate William Clark said "liquid
containing feces came out of the shower drains" and toilets in Unit 1
South, standing two inches deep in some areas. The liquid and solids couldn't
be flushed back down, causing inmates in their cells to get headaches and
become nauseated, especially when they were on lockdown. The prison is
currently operated by the Geo Group under contract with the county, which has
a contract with the federal government and is scheduled to be shut down by
April 30. The prison owns a machine it uses to remove liquid from floors, but
inmates were instead forced to use mops and buckets, Clark's sworn statement
says, because they weren't trained on the machine. Using that method took
hours, in part because the correctional center shut off water during the
flooding, the statement says. "On one occasion," it says, "we
had to pour the contents of the buckets we had filled onto the floors of
empty cells in 1 South because we had nowhere else to put the liquid and
feces." Declarations by Clark and Keith Millhouse were submitted to
Senior U.S. District Judge James A. Parker as inmate attorneys in the
conditions lawsuit known as the McClendon case were pressing the court to
allow them access to the Regional Correctional Center. Inmate lawyers have
said that they should have been able to speak in person with their clients
while the county appealed an adverse ruling by the previous judge in the case
over the last two years, but they have been barred from the facility. Lawyer
Mark Donatelli said that transitional periods such as the current progressive
shutdown are dangerous periods in any prison because the guards' employment
situation means they don't always show up for work, and mingling of different
classes of inmates creates tension. Parker said he would be willing to
accompany lawyers for both sides on a tour of the facility to assess current
conditions. Marcus Rael, one of the lawyers representing the county in the
litigation, said that, because Geo Group is operating the jail, inmate
lawyers need to get in touch with Geo lawyers to assess conditions.
Millhouse's declaration describes raw sewage in his pod over five consecutive
days in March, standing four to six inches deep.

February 4, 2011 Albuquerque
Journal
Bernalillo County officials are considering getting out of the business of
housing federal inmates at the old Downtown jail, known as the Regional
Corrections Center. A County Commission vote is scheduled for Tuesday that
would terminate 2004 and 2005 agreements between the county and the Office of
the Federal Detention Trustee. The latter agreement expires in March. The
county owns the building at 4th and Roma NW. It receives about $1.5 million a
year under a lease agreement with GEO Group Inc., a Florida-based private
prison company that runs the corrections center. More than 500 U.S. Marshals
Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and federal Bureau of Prisons inmates are
housed at the center, officials said. "We're evaluating whether we're in
a position anymore to lease that building out for federal prisoners,"
said Deputy County Manager Tom Swisstack. "We aren't sure it benefits
the county anymore to have that facility hanging over our head." U.S.
Marshal Conrad Candelaria said marshal's service prisoners would be
transferred to other facilities in the state if the county shuts down the
RCC. It is unclear how many GEO Group employees work at the RCC. The facility's
warden did not return a telephone call. The vote on whether to pull out of
the agreements comes less than a month after setback for the county in the
so-called "McClendon" case — a federal civil rights lawsuit over
inmate conditions at the Downtown jail and the county's massive Metropolitan
Detention Center on the far West Mesa that has dragged on nearly 16 years. In
the ruling, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal from the
county, which has been seeking to keep intact a settlement agreement over
jail conditions reached in 2005. The agreement settling the lawsuit specified
that it only applied to the MDC, not the Downtown jail, which was renamed the
Regional Correction Center. But the judge then presiding over the lawsuit
ruled in 2009 that county officials had so misrepresented the county's role
in running the old Downtown jail — which it had leased to a private operator
— that parties should be allowed out of the deal, and she withdrew her
approval of the settlement.

July 3, 2008 New York Times
The federal immigration agency should report all deaths in detention
promptly, not only to the inspector general for the Department of Homeland
Security, but also to state authorities where required by law, the inspector general has recommended after a “special
review” of the deaths of two immigrant detainees. The detainees — a
60-year-old South Korean woman in Albuquerque and a 30-year-old Ecuadorean
woman in St. Paul — were among dozens whose deaths in the custody of the
agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have drawn scrutiny in the past
year. Congress, advocates for immigrants and the news media have highlighted
the lack of systematic accountability in such cases, and documented problems
with the medical care provided in the detention system, a patchwork of county
jails, privately run prisons and federal facilities. Both detainees died
because of serious medical conditions that existed before they were detained.
But the review found that the cases pointed to larger problems with oversight
and medical care, including the failure to recognize or act on serious health
care deficiencies in both detention centers that had been documented by
routine inspections. The 55-page report, released Tuesday, did not name the
two detainees, but one was Young Sook Kim, a cook who died of metastasized
pancreatic cancer on Sept. 11, 2006, a day after she was taken to a hospital
from the Regional Correctional Center in Albuquerque, a county prison
operated by the Cornell Companies. A complaint to the inspector general’s hot
line, testimony by a former employee, and an affidavit from a fellow detainee
all contended that Ms. Kim had pleaded in vain for medical attention. The
review found that it was already too late to save her life, and that Cornell
clinical records showed the staff had responded to her written medical
requests — albeit only by giving her antacid tablets when she complained of
stomach pain. But the review confirmed complaints that Cornell was slow to
deal with sick calls because of a nursing shortage: a government inspection
in September 2006 found ailing detainees had to wait for as long as 30 days
to see the medical staff. That inspection, by the Office of the Federal
Detention Trustee, also found that only 11 of 20 detainees with chronic conditions
were regularly scheduled for chronic care clinics, and that its policies did
not fulfill requirements to notify the Homeland Security Department — the
system’s parent agency — or the Justice Department of deaths. Ms. Kim’s death
was not reported, as required, to state medical investigators. The
immigration agency initially maintained that the county should have reported
the death, but on Wednesday, a spokeswoman, Kelly Nantel, said that “as a
result of the report,” the agency has directed that all deaths be reported to
the appropriate state and federal authorities. The report also urged the
immigration agency to pool information with the detention trustee. In
September 2006, it noted, trustee inspectors gave the Albuquerque prison the
lowest overall rating, “at risk” — two levels below acceptable. But because
the two agencies do not routinely share information, the report said,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed some 3,500 more detainees at the
facility. Last August, the immigration agency removed all detainees after its
inspectors found a host of other problems, including an inadequate suicide
watch. The Minnesota case involved Maria Inamagua Merchan, a department store
worker who was detained in the Ramsey County jail and died in April 2006. For
more than a month, her persistent headaches had been treated only with
Tylenol; when she fell from a bunk bed, several hours passed before she was
taken to the hospital, where physicians diagnosed neurocysticercosis, an
infection of the brain by larvae of the pork tapeworm. “We cannot determine
with certainty whether this death could have been avoided had the detainee
received immediate medical attention for head trauma,” the report said, after
praising the authorities for promptly reporting the incident and for
notifying the Consulate of Ecuador and the detainee’s spouse. But it
recommended better medical screening and education about the parasite, which
is endemic in parts of Latin America.

April 1, 2008 The New Mexican
More than eight months after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials
removed 600 detainees from an Albuquerque jail, they
say they won't house immigrants there again. The federal immigration agency,
part of the Department of Homeland Security, says it has enough space
elsewhere for detainees arrested in the Santa Fe and Albuquerque areas. A
majority of the immigrants who would have gone to the Regional Correctional
Center in Albuquerque will be housed in El Paso, said Leticia Zamarripa, an
ICE spokeswoman. The agency also can house detainees at other regional
facilities if it needs to, including a to- be-opened immigrant processing
center in Otero County. The move means family members of immigrants who are
detained will have to travel farther to visit their relatives.
"Certainly having them far away is going to be incredibly difficult for
families," said Marcela Díaz, director of the Santa Fe immigrant-
advocate group Somos Un Pueblo Unido. ICE was housing hundreds of detainees
awaiting deportation at the RCC. That facility faced allegations by immigrant
lawyers — and criticism by a federal judge — of subpar conditions. Complaints
included sweltering heat inside, frozen food and poor medical attention.
After the agency yanked all of its inmates last summer, an ICE official said
he had "serious doubts" about the ability of Cornell Cos. Inc.,
which runs the jail, to provide a safe environment for detainees.

March 7, 2008 Market Watch
Cornell Companies, Inc. announced today that the Company has been informed
that the federal agency which currently holds the contract in effect for use
of the Regional Correctional Center (RCC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico intends
to unilaterally reduce use of the facility. The modification is intended to
continue use of RCC by the U.S. Marshals Service but eliminate any future use
by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division. Cornell, which
leases RCC from Bernalillo County, believes that the attempted unilateral
reduction of guaranteed bed-days does not comply with the terms of the
contract and will be exploring the legal and financial implications with that
in mind in the coming days. Bernalillo County owns RCC and holds the contract
directly with the Office of Federal Detention Trustee (OFDT). The unilateral
notice indicated an intention to reduce the total guaranteed bed-days
annually from 182,500 to 66,300 effective February 26, 2008. James E. Hyman,
Cornell's Chairman, President and CEO said, "We are disappointed that
ICE has decided not to use the RCC, as we have made an enormous effort over
the past year to address all concerns that they, other customers, and other
constituencies, brought to our attention. Should ICE decide in the future
that their needs have changed, we would welcome them back.
We remain committed to serving the needs of the U.S. Marshals Service and to
providing space to other potential customers as they arise. We also are
reviewing Cornell's and the county's legal rights under the contract."
OFDT has stated that the Marshals Service will continue to use the facility
at generally the current level, which since the third quarter of 2007 has
fluctuated between 170 and 200 detainees. Cornell also continues to actively
market the facility to other customers.

December 27, 2007 Albuquerque
Tribune
Calvin Morton started making changes in his new job as warden at the Regional
Correctional Center right at the front door - literally. Since taking over as
the head of the Downtown jail in early October, Morton has boosted security,
starting with the lockup's entrance. All staff members and visitors now face
increased scrutiny as they go through metal detectors, he said. "We've
directed them to put all their items in a clear container if possible. If not
in a clear container, we would be looking into their briefcases or whatever
they are bringing in, lunchboxes or whatever the case might be to examine
those and make sure there is no contraband in it," Morton said. The
change is one of several that Morton, who has worked in corrections for more
than three decades, is bringing to the jail at a key point in the facility's
history. The jail at Fourth Street and Roma Avenue Northwest is looking to
regain about 700 detainees of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency
- clients it lost this summer. "We have a lot of empty beds here,"
Morton said. "We're looking at contracts we might be able to get into
our facility to fill those beds." This summer, ICE pulled all of its
detainees from the lockup. The agency has mostly been mum about why, but an
internal review turned up problems including deficiencies in medical care,
contraband in the jail and a lack of complete emergency plans. About 180
detainees of the U.S. Marshals Office remain at the jail, which can hold
nearly 1,000 people. Between January and August of this year, inmates filed
218 complaints about conditions in the jail. As Cornell struggled to improve
the facility, 19 employees were fired. And because it lost so many detainees,
the Houston-based company laid off another 96 employees. Eighty-six
staff-members remain.

November 1, 2007 Albuquerque
Tribune
Cornell Cos. Inc. is betting federal immigration detainees will return to the
Regional Correctional Center, Bernalillo County's Downtown jail. So far, the
bet is costing the company money. Because it has kept more employees than it
needs for the 200 or so detainees left at the jail, Cornell's employee costs
are higher than expected, and have forced the company to lower its projected
fourth-quarter earnings. The company laid off about
100 employees in September after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement
agency pulled 600 inmates from the lockup this summer. Cornell CEO and
Chairman James Hyman in a written statement said fourth-quarter earnings are
likely to slide 6 cents per share, to about 30 to 33 cents. Despite the
projected decrease - also due in part to Cornell's slower than expected
intake of new inmates at an Oklahoma prison it runs - the company chose to
keep the extra staff in case ICE decides to move detainees back to the jail
at Fourth Street and Roma Avenue Northwest. "There is more staff there
than would be needed for 180 or so (U.S.) Marshals (Service) detainees who
are there, so that if ICE chose to bring people back on short notice, we are
prepared," Cornell spokesman Charles Seigel said. Seigel declined to
talk about staffing levels, including how many people work there now. He also
declined to say how many inmates the jail could take in before more employees
would need to be hired. "Those are internal (numbers), and we prefer not
to talk about that," he said. ICE officials have said the agency has no
immediate plans to return to the facility, and the federal government is
reviewing operations at the jail, which has come under scrutiny by inmates'
attorneys for its physical conditions and health care. Meanwhile, Cornell has
said it is looking for other customers for the 970-bed jail. An ICE
spokeswoman didn't return a call seeking comment Wednesday. Apart from
layoffs, the company has also fired employees. Documents obtained by The
Tribune show 19 people were fired in the seven months before and after ICE's
removal of detainees. During the same time period, inmates filed 218
grievances. The company had been predicting fourth-quarter earnings between
36 and 39 cents a diluted share. Hyman, in a news release Tuesday, said the
company expects earnings to drop about 6 cents a share. The stock was trading
at $24.80 a share Wednesday. The stock's two-week high was $27.76. However,
the company is expecting revenues for the first quarter of 2008 to increase
because of an agreement governing the Regional Correctional Center under
which the federal government guarantees payment for 500 beds. Kevin Campbell,
a senior analyst at Avondale Partners LLC in Nashville, Tenn., said the new
earnings predictions are based on short-term situations, adding the earnings
dip is likely only temporary. "Given the lack of supply of beds in the
industry and strong demands from various federal agencies, it's
likely Cornell will fill those beds with a customer," he said.

October 2, 2007 AP
Albuquerque authorities say a 40-year-old man in the custody of the U.S.
Marshals Service was found dead in his cell at the Regional Correctional
Center. The inmate was found hanging by a noose made of bed sheets, less than
15 minutes after a routine check on him. That word from Charles Seigel, who
is a spokesman for Cornell Companies Incorporated. Cornell runs the lockup in
downtown Albuquerque. Seigel says the company is investigating. The inmate’s
name was not immediately released. Cornell has been criticized about
conditions at the jail. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this
year pulled 600 detainees from the jail over safety and other concerns.

September 25, 2007 Albuquerque
Tribune
In the seven months surrounding the removal of almost 700 detainees from the
Regional Correctional Center this summer, 19 jail employees were fired,
inmates filed 218 grievances, and drugs and other contraband were routinely
discovered. Documents obtained by The Tribune also show jail officials had
reported five incidents they listed in a high-importance category - including
the discovery of three bundles of marijuana on an inmate and a broom-handle
assault by a detainee on a correctional officer. The documents may indicate
why the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency removed all its
detainees from the Downtown jail and has since said it won't be returning
them in the foreseeable future. In several interviews during the past few
months, officials with the federal agency have been nearly mum on what may be
wrong at the jail, saying only that they pulled people from the facility
after several "serious incidents." They also noted the jail was
found to be deficient in two of its detention standards. A
immigration agency spokeswoman didn't return a call seeking comment Monday.
Representatives from Cornell Cos., which runs the lockup at Fourth Street and
Roma Avenue Northwest, have said they've fixed the problems the agency had
with the jail, but they still don't know why it left. "The reasons ICE
left may or not be found in documents or specific numbers," Cornell
spokesman Charles Seigel said. "It may simply be a feeling, which they
have expressed." As for the five incidents marked in the high-importance
category, Seigel said they weren't serious enough to reach the company's
highest-importance level, but Cornell takes them seriously nonetheless. The
jail, which has a capacity of close to 1,000, now holds fewer than 200
inmates in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. Bernalillo County, which
owns the building, had also been using the jail for inmates it couldn't fit
at the Metropolitan Detention Center on the city's West Side but stopped that
in late July. The reported incidents are common in most jails in the country,
said Seigel. "Every facility in the country, whatever the detention
level . . . has issues of unruly people who break the rules by trying to
bring in contraband," he said.

September 13, 2007 Albuquerque
Tribune
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials pulled all their detainees
from a privately run jail in Downtown Albuquerque because of critical
concerns about management, a federal official says. A number of "serious
events" in recent months raised concerns about the Regional Correctional
Center run by Cornell Cos. Inc., said Gary Mead, assistant director for
detention and removal operations for ICE in Washington. Mead declined to give
specifics about the events, saying they are still under investigation.
"We have serious doubts about their (Cornell's) ability to provide the
safe and humane environment we want for our detainees. That's the reason we
are not there," Mead said in an interview Wednesday. Until now, ICE had
said little about its reasons for removing about 600 detainees from the jail
in July. ICE previously had cited two detention standards it said the
facility wasn't meeting, things Cornell said it had fixed. "While there
were issues with the standards in terms of food service and clothing and
temperature and things like that, our reasons for taking people out are
really much more fundamental than that," Mead said. "We just have
serious doubts about Cornell at the facility." Mead said he's met
several times with Cornell officials since June 25, including a meeting at
the jail at Fourth Street and Roma Avenue Northwest. Mead said the
immigration agency had concerns about the jail before Chief U.S. District
Judge Martha Vazquez of Albuquerque sent a letter to Cornell's chief
executive officer. Mead said Vazquez's letter in late June only intensified
his agency's attention to complaints about conditions at the lockup.
"The Cornell officials basically told us that many of the judge's
concerns were unfounded, or were corrected or were in the process of being
corrected," Mead said. "They told us not to worry; they were in
full control of the facility." But, he said, "There have been a
number of incidents at the facility that caused us to seriously question
Cornell's ability to safely and humanely detain our (undocumented immigrants)
there." In her letter, Vazquez said she was worried about medical care,
physical conditions and nutrition at the lockup. She recounted stories
inmates told her during visits this summer to the jail about missing
property, and allegations of sexual misconduct and of inmates who were
punished for speaking out. Federal authorities are also investigating the
death of a Korean woman who died at an Albuquerque hospital while in the
jail's custody last year. The woman's repeated requests for medical attention
were ignored, according to lawyers familiar with the case. Cornell spokesman
Charles Seigel said the company has worked to address the agency's concerns
and would like to know what it can still do to appease the immigration
agency. "We hear from them all the time about the past history they
don't like," he said. "All we would like to hear is a specific list
of things to do to make them happy, because all we hear about is past
history. What we don't hear from that is what we need to do to resolve their
concerns and make it a facility they can bring people back to." As for
the serious incidents Mead mentioned, Seigel also refused to give details.
"There are things that have happened in the past that we have addressed
with ICE. We've been told everything is fine, and we've dealt with ICE,"
he said. Seigel said Cornell is more than willing to do what it takes to have
ICE as a client again. At the same time, the company is looking for other
inmates to fill the jail. "First of all, we know they are the customer,
and what their perception is is what matters. There's no point in going back
and forth about whether we agree with their concerns. If that's their
perception, that's their perception and we'll address it." Before it
removed all of its detainees, the immigration agency pulled about half in the
hope that Cornell could do a better job with fewer people, Mead said. But
that wasn't the case, he said, and the agency later removed everyone it had
at the facility, a move Mead described as rare. "On rare occasions, we
have left facilities in the past, but it's very rare for us to do it,"
he said. "This was serious enough in our mind that it warranted
that." ICE, which has about 30,000 detainees at 300 to 350 facilities
around the country, only rarely has pulled inmates, Mead said. Albuquerque is
the only place ICE is contracting with Cornell, Seigel said. Although it
doesn't have anyone at the Downtown jail, ICE still has a contract with
Cornell and could, at a later date, decide to return detainees. "We
haven't terminated our relations with them," Mead said. "We're
still evaluating that situation; we just don't have a date for that at this
point," Cornell has run the former Bernalillo County Detention Center
since 2003. The facility is still owned by the county, which receives about
$1.5 million a year in rent from Cornell. Without ICE as a tenant, Cornell
earlier this week cut 82 of 185 employee positions at the jail. Fewer than
200 inmates remain at the jail, in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

September 10, 2007 Albuquerque
Tribune
After more than a month without its main client sending detainees to its jail
in Downtown Albuquerque, Cornell Companies Inc. this morning cut 82 of 185
jobs at the jail. The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency,
which had housed about 600 people at the Regional Correctional Center, in
late July yanked its inmates, saying the facility
didn't meet two detention standards. Since then, the company has worked to
address the concerns but has heard little on ICE's plans, said Cornell
spokesman Charles Seigel. "They have not indicated whether or when or if
they plan to be back," Seigel said this morning. The company is looking
for other clients. An ICE spokeswoman this morning had no update on the
agency's plans. The layoffs affected 82 of the 185 positions at the facility,
and mostly included correctional officers. It was unclear how many people
were laid off, as some positions were vacant, Seigel said. Bernalillo County
Public Safety Director John Dantis said the county would work to recruit
officers for its Metropolitan Detention Center. At the same time, the county
is interested in possibly housing inmates again in the jail, which it owns
and leases to Cornell. The Houston-based private prison company pays the
county more than $1 million in rent each year.

August 30, 2007 Albuquerque
Tribune
For months, allegations of filthy conditions, subpar medical attention and
bad food have hung over the Regional Correctional
Center in Downtown Albuquerque. On the outside, little seemed to be changing
as inmates and lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico
repeatedly lodged complaints and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement
agency pulled more than 600 detainees from the jail, run by Cornell Companies
Inc. Bernalillo County also pulled its inmates from the facility. But key
events - visits by Chief U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez and a letter from
a Bernalillo County official warning Cornell that if the allegations were
true and the company didn't try to correct them, the county could move to
terminate its contract - appear to have sparked big changes. The two groups
seem to have settled the differences, with the county in a subsequent letter
saying it was satisfied with Cornell's actions and a company spokesman saying
things have been worked out. Vazquez, in a letter to Cornell Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer James Hyman, said that from one visit this summer to
the next, she saw some big improvements. She outlined her concerns and her
findings in documents obtained by The Tribune this week. "The detainees
reported that they are now receiving toiletries as well as clean linens and
towels and that they are consistently receiving an hour of recreation time
each day," Vazquez wrote in a June 22 letter to Hyman. "The black
mold was cleaned from the shower in the area where the (U.S. Marshals'
Office) women are housed, and the air conditioning appeared to be working in
the cell where it was so hot during my last visit." Still, Vazquez had
other worries, including detainees who seemed afraid to speak with her a
second time. "During my first visit, detainees eagerly approached me to
discuss their concerns. I spent hours at the facility, took pages and pages
of notes, and left with detainees still lined up to talk to me. The
detainees' response to my follow-up visit was dramatically different. The
detainees were subdued, some even visibly frightened to be seen speaking to
me." Two detainees in the custody of the immigration agency later called
Vazquez to say they had been punished for speaking with her, she wrote in the
letter. In a written response to the judge, the jail's warden, Brick Tripp,
said officials had investigated Vazquez's allegation but couldn't back it up.
"Detainees have not been discouraged from or retaliated against for speaking
the Chief Judge (sic)," he wrote. Although Vazquez was still troubled by
the jail's medical care, its physical condition and behavior by correctional
officers, some of her concerns seem to have been addressed after County
Manager Thaddeus Lucero on July 30 wrote his warning letter to Cornell. In a
letter back to Lucero on Aug. 23, Cornell's senior vice president for the
Adult Secure Division, Michael Caltabiano, outlined changes the company has
made and said there was no reason to terminate the agreement between the
county and Cornell. Under the agreement, Cornell pays the county more than $1
million a year to rent the facility at Fourth Street and Roma Avenue
Northwest. Under another agreement, federal detainees including from the U.S.
Marshals' Office and the immigration agency are housed at the lockup.
Currently, fewer than 200 Marshals' detainees remain. "While we
acknowledge that there have been some difficulties to overcome relative to
RCC operations, and while we appreciate that operational improvements can
always be made at any facility, we respectfully maintain that no "event
of default" exists under the Operating and Management Agreement,"
Caltabiano wrote. As part of its response, the Houston company cited changes
including a correctional officer who was fired for "using his cell phone
to take a profile photo of a female detainee fully clothed." Another
officer was temporarily reassigned after he allegedly called an inmate a
"black monkey." An investigation by the jail didn't substantiate
the allegation, even though a witness independently backed up the assertion.
After complaints of clothes not being adequately cleaned, the company also
said it had adjusted its laundry services at the jail to wash smaller numbers
of clothes at a time and provide inmates with an increased number of
undergarments.

August 25, 2007 Albuquerque
Tribune
The operator of Albuquerque's Downtown jail says it could lay off up to 100
of its 185 employees if the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency
doesn't return its detainees to the lockup. The federal agency earlier this
month removed more than 600 detainees, saying the facility didn't meet two of
its standards. With fewer than 200 inmates in the 970-inmate capacity jail,
Cornell says it can't keep everyone employed at the jail at Fourth Street and
Roma Avenue Northwest. "If we don't hear from them by Sept. 9, we're
going to have to lay off a significant portion of our staff," Cornell
Cos. Inc. spokesman Charles Seigel said. ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa
said the agency doesn't have a timeline for when it might send inmates back
to the jail. Since the agency yanked its inmates, Cornell has worked to
improve the jail, Seigel said. Its staff has recently undergone cultural
training, needed because the company deals with immigrant detainees from
around the world. The immigration agency wouldn't say what standards the jail
didn't meet. But The Tribune has learned they dealt with concerns over tool
control and adequate recreation for inmates. Seigel said the company has
worked to address those issues.

August 11, 2007 Albuquerque
Tribune
The head of Cornell Companies Inc. says Bernalillo County's Downtown jail
wasn't one of the company's "best" as it struggled with management
turnover, failed to meet the needs of a federal immigration agency and
earlier this month lost the agency as its main customer. Yet the jail was a
moneymaker for the company - accounting for $1.7 million of the $2 million
second-quarter revenue increase in the company's adult prisons division,
another Cornell official said in a teleconference this week with analysts.
Concerns about the facility were a top priority during the call. But before
Cornell Chairman and CEO James Hyman talked about the revenues, he addressed
issues at the lockup, saying they were "on everyone's minds,"
according to documents obtained by The Tribune. The Regional Correctional
Center is mostly empty after Bernalillo County and the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement agency removed more than 700 inmates in recent weeks.
Fewer than 200 U.S. Marshals Service detainees remain. During the conference
call, Hyman, who visited the center in June, talked about the facility owned
by Bernalillo County and run by Cornell. Operating challenges at the jail
have stemmed from its "population volatility," Hyman said, adding
that the quality and stability of operations at the RCC have improved since
2006. "However," Hyman said, "if we had operated RCC as we do
our best facilities, no one would have had any basis for criticism. But we
didn't." Over the past nine months, Cornell has revamped the center's
leadership, improved staff training and pay rates, and improved operating
procedures, he said. In an interview Friday, Hyman said the RCC "clearly
has not had the stability of operations that what I would say our better
facilities do. In part, your best facilities tend to have very constant,
long-term leadership teams, and they can drive the application process and
training with the staff." At least four wardens have run the jail since
Cornell took control of the lockup at Fourth Street and Roma Avenue Northwest
in 2004. During the conference call, analysts repeatedly asked questions
about the RCC - one of 79 jails Cornell operates in 16 states. In New Mexico,
Cornell also manages the Lincoln County Detention Center. In particular,
analysts wanted to know what the company is predicting will happen with so
few inmates in the Downtown jail, which is designed for 970 inmates. Hyman
said the company is "not forecasting when any increase (in jail
population) will occur." But Cornell is "actively marketing the
vacated beds to other customers in the event that ICE decides not to use the
beds we provide," he said. The recent decline in jail population has
forced the company to lower its earnings projections for the second half of
2007, he said. Revenues for the adult secure institutional services division
- one of three divisions in the company - were $47.8 million in the second
quarter. ICE officials have said they won't know when or if they will return
prisoners to the RCC until they complete a review of the facility.
Spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa said Friday it's unclear when the review will
be done. During the last review of the jail done by ICE, the immigration
agency found that the building didn't meet two of its 38 standards, although
agency officials wouldn't say which standards were unmet. In the
teleconference, Hyman said the two were in "recreation" and
"tool control," but said ICE didn't provide him much detail on
those or other reasons the agency pulled out its detainees. "There is no
one that has said `This is the reason why' " ICE
transferred its prisoners to other facilities, he said. "The problem
I've got is (that) I've dissatisfied the customer to the point where they
have taken a pretty extreme action. The task we have is to try and address
their concerns," Hyman told the analysts. The jail is under scrutiny
from federal officials after a Korean immigrant last year died in an
Albuquerque hospital while in RCC custody. The lockup also is in the cross hairs
of New Mexico inmates' attorneys who are seeking more access to the jail as
part of a 12-year-old lawsuit about crowding and health care conditions for
Bernalillo County inmates. The attorneys' request for greater access is
pending before a federal judge. Both the county and ICE have denied that they
transferred inmates out of the RCC because they feared becoming snared in the
lawsuit. In a filing in that lawsuit this week, a county attorney wrote that
having the lawsuit apply to the Regional Correctional Center would mean that
other jails where the county houses inmates when the Metropolitan Detention
Center is full would be reluctant to take in their overflow inmates. A county
attorney also said "no one should be surprised" if the U.S.
Marshals Service pulled out of the RCC, leaving an empty building and no
money to pay the rent. The Marshals Service, however, hasn't indicated it
will leave the jail, located close to courthouses in the city's center.
Cornell pays the county $1.2 million a year to lease the building. The county
uses the money to pay the bonds on the Health Services Unit at its
Metropolitan Detention Center. The contract between Cornell and ICE is still
in place; canceling it would require 180 days of notice, Hyman said in the
teleconference. During an interview with The Tribune, Hyman also said Cornell
laid off 10 jail employees after ICE removed its
inmates. The company "clearly will face another decision at some
point" about other staff cutbacks, he said.

August 2, 2007 Albuquerque
Tribune
Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to pull all of its inmates out of
the Regional Correctional Center, a spokesman for the company that runs the
Downtown jail said on Aug. 2. "They have told us they are going to take
out everybody for some time, at least," said Charles Seigel, a
consultant for Cornell Cos. An ICE spokeswoman didn't return calls seeking
comment on Aug. 2. Seigel referred questions on how many inmates were being
moved and where to ICE. Seigel said ICE still has a contract with Cornell at the
jail, owned by Bernalillo County. The jail in the past has housed about 700
ICE detainees, plus about 200 people in the custody of the U.S. Marshals
Service and a handful of Bernalillo County inmates. The county removed its
inmates from the jail in June, and ICE on July 27 pulled half its inmates,
including all the women and non-criminal immigrants in custody. At the time,
ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa said the agency wanted to better use its
jail space and was only leaving male criminal immigrants.

July 28, 2007 Albuquerque
Tribune
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has yanked hundreds of its
inmates from the Regional Correctional Center in Downtown Albuquerque,
reducing the jail's population by about a third. The move, which removed all
the female inmates and inmates held on non-criminal immigration violations
from the jail, is a first since Cornell Corrections Inc. took over the jail
about three years ago. The move comes as attorneys in a 12-year-old lawsuit —
known as the McClendon case — about jail crowding seek access to the building
to monitor living conditions at the facility. ICE spokeswoman Leticia
Zamarripa said the lawsuit didn't play a role in the decision to move
"at least half" of the ICE inmates. "In an effort to manage
ICE's use of bed space, ICE has determined that the agency is only going to
use the RCC for male criminal aliens," Zamarripa said. She did not have
the exact number of inmates transferred from the jail and moved to other
facilities in New Mexico and Texas. The agency in the past has housed about
700 people in the jail and the population frequently fluctuates as immigrants
are brought to the RCC and then deported. The move by ICE comes about a month
after Bernalillo County removed its inmates from the Regional Correctional
Center. The county removed their inmates about one week after a filing in the
McClendon lawsuit by inmate attorneys wanting access to the RCC facility. The
county contends the lawsuit had nothing to do with the move. "Bernalillo
County removed its inmates from the RCC because intermittently we will place
overflow inmates there as needed," said county public safety director
John Dantis. "At the time, we could manage this group within our
facility." It's unclear how many people remain
at the jail. A consultant for the company, Charles Seigel, declined to
release the current population, but said it's not over capacity. The building
is rated to hold 970 people. "On a regular basis, it's more appropriate
for the agencies to say how many are in there," he said. The county, ICE
and the U.S. Marshals Service house detainees in the facility. The U.S.
Marshals Service has just fewer than 200 people in the facility, said Deputy
Chief Marshal Carl Caulk. Marc Lowry, an attorney for inmates in the
McClendon case, said he was at the jail to visit a client this week and saw
22 people in a receiving and discharge unit marked with an 11-person
population sign. "They all had to eat lunch standing up and holding
trays," he said. "I don't know why they have to stuff people in
there like sardines." The lawsuit filed in 1995 focused on crowding and
living conditions including medical care at the jail, which was then the
county's main detention facility. Things haven't improved at the Downtown
jail since the county built a new jail on the far West Mesa, Lowry said.

July 14, 2007 Albuquerque
Tribune
A week after lawyers in a jail-crowding lawsuit asked to visit Bernalillo
County inmates housed at a privately run Downtown jail, the inmates were
ordered out. Lawyers for plaintiffs in the so-called McClendon lawsuit,
originally filed against the county in the mid-1990s, asked a federal judge
on June 28 to extend McClendon's oversight to the Downtown jail, now known as
the Regional Correctional Center. The McClendon lawsuit led to harsh scrutiny
and a federally imposed cap on the inmate population at the Downtown jail
when it was run by the county prior to 2002. The county, which now houses
most of its inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center on the West Side,
leases the Downtown facility to Cornell Companies Inc. RCC primarily holds
deportees and other federal inmates, though a small number of overflow county
inmates have also been held there. As of last month, the county had 43
inmates at RCC. Lawyers had sought to use those inmates to gain greater
access to RCC, arguing that the renovated jail remains overcrowded and
plagued by problems. But a week after the June 28 motion was filed, no county inmates remained to be visited.
"Brick Tripp, the RCC warden, telephoned MDC Director Ronald Torres and
told him to remove MDC inmates from RCC," according to documents filed
by the county in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque on Tuesday. All county
inmates had been removed from the jail by July 6, the documents say. Cornell
representatives did not respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.
John Dantis, deputy county manager for public safety, said he didn't see the
order to remove the county's inmates as an effort to insulate RCC from
McClendon. "They've asked us to remove our inmates before," he
said. "They have contracts to hold federal inmates that pay more than we
do." RCC has come under increasing scrutiny in recent months. Federal
authorities are investigating the death of a Korean woman held at the facility
last year.

July 10, 2007 Albuquerque
Tribune
A former detainee at the Regional Correctional Center is suing the private
company that runs the Downtown Albuquerque lockup, saying he didn't get
adequate medical care after he fractured his jaw playing handball. According
to his lawsuit, Robert Delayo hurt himself Jan. 1, 2006, and was taken to the
Albuquerque Regional Medical Center, where he received X-rays that showed a
fracture. A physician told him he should follow up with an oral surgeon
within two or three days. It wasn't until Jan. 27 that Delayo saw an oral
surgeon, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit in U.S. District Court in
Albuquerque alleges Cornell Companies Inc., a former warden, and the head of
the jail's Health Services Center knew about Delayo's condition but
"made no effort to obtain adequate and timely medical treatment for Mr.
Delayo." The lawsuit also names Bernalillo County, which owns the jail
and leases it to Cornell. Public Safety Director John Dantis said it's up to
Cornell to handle the claim. "The county's response is that it's a
Cornell issue. They are the operators," he said. Charles Seigel, a
consultant for Cornell, said the company can't comment on the case, but
defended the jail's health care. "We do provide an excellent health program,
available to detainees in the facility," he said. One of Delayo's
lawyers, Frances Crockett, said she has also heard other concerns about
medical treatment at the lockup. "It seems to be an epidemic that's
going on around the country, and in part with the RCC, of prisoners not
receiving adequate medical care," she said. Delayo's lawsuit says he
suffered and continues to suffer extreme physical and mental pain from the
injury. It also asks for monetary damages in an amount to be determined at
trial, as well as lawyer's fees. Crockett did not provide details of what led
to Delayo's incarceration. Federal court records show Robert Delayo, 43, was
indicted in connection with a Jan. 25, 2005, bank robbery of the Wells Fargo
Bank at 1800 Eubank Blvd. N.E. He later pleaded guilty to federal charges of
use of a firearm during a crime and aiding and abetting. Other attorneys,
including some from the American Civil Liberties Union, have collected
complaints from detainees about crowding, poor medical care and unsanitary conditions
inside the jail. Bernalillo County, the U.S. Marshals Service and the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement all have contracts to house detainees
inside the facility at Fourth Street and Roma Avenue Northwest in Downtown.
Cornell officials gave a tour of the jail earlier this month to two
reporters, and defended the medical care, calling it "superb." The
Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General also has
its eye on the jail after a detainee of Immigration and Customs Enforcement
in September died at an Albuquerque hospital while in the custody of the RCC.
The ACLU has asked the federal government for more information about
immigrant detainees who have died in the custody of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement. The group says 62 have died since 2004 and has filed a Freedom
of Information Act request seeking details.

July 4, 2007 Albuquerque
Tribune
The squat, bald detainee wanted to know who was in charge. Warden Brick Tripp
stepped forward to address the detainee's complaint on July 3 about excessive
heat in a section of the Regional Correctional Center in Downtown
Albuquerque. As staffers worked to keep the building cool in triple-digit
temperatures outside, the company that runs the lockup, Cornell Companies
Inc., wanted to turn down the heat on a rash of complaints about the jail.
Civil and labor-rights attorneys in recent weeks have reported complaints
from inmates about poor medical and mental health care, as well as crowded,
dirty and uncomfortable conditions. The charges stemmed from investigations
that began after an immigrant in custody of the RCC died in September. To
respond to the allegations, the jail's warden and other Cornell officials on
July 3 talked with reporters and gave a tour of the jail. "We get
concerned when we get complaints from anybody, but we believe we provide a
safe and secure place for ICE and U.S. Marshals detainees," said George
Killinger, managing director of operations for Cornell's adult secure
institutions. Overall, officials said they look into the complaints and
provide excellent medical care at the facility, which Cornell has operated
since 2004. The building formerly was the Bernalillo County Detention Center.
It was vacated in December 2002 after the Metropolitan Detention Center was
completed on the West Side. Cornell officials said medical personnel make
five trips a day to the inmates' living areas. Detainees get medical exams
after they arrive, and the facility has passed inspections by the Public
Health Services of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The
center has mental health professionals and a chaplain on duty, officials
said. They also pointed out $7 million in improvements to the jail paid for
by the giant private prisons company in Houston. "We feel we provide superb
medical access," Tripp said. The building is owned by Bernalillo County
and leased to Cornell for $1.5 million a year. It houses federal inmates for
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Marshals Service, as well as
some county prisoners. Most of the inmates are ICE detainees, waiting to be
deported. Of the 864 people held on July 3, 650 were immigrants. The building
is rated to hold 970 prisoners, Killinger said. The tour came as the
Department of Homeland Security reviews ICE's detention policies. That job
includes determining "whether ICE has maintained adequate oversight of
this (the RCC) and other detention facilities, and whether the agency's
policies are sufficient to decrease the likelihood of detainee fatalities
throughout the county," according to department spokeswoman Tamara
Faulkner. The look isn't focused on individual cases, she said, but a broad
review of ICE oversight on procedures for providing care and how deaths are
reported. The review began after it was revealed a Korean woman died at an
Albuquerque hospital Sept. 11 while in the custody of the RCC. The woman
repeatedly sought medical attention, according to lawyers familiar with the
case. ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa said she couldn't comment on the
death because it is an ongoing case, but said the agency "immediately
reported the death through normal reporting procedures according to national
detention standards." Cornell officials declined to comment on the case
or to say how many people have died in the jail since they took charge of the
RCC. That death and others in the country have the American Civil Liberties
Union looking for more information. Last week, the group filed a public
records request for details on what it says are the deaths of 62 immigrant
detainees since 2004. "We are deeply concerned about this shockingly
high number of in-custody deaths in immigration detention," Elizabeth
Alexander, director of the group's Prison Project, said in a statement.
"It raises serious concerns about about the quality of care provided to
ICE detainees in their custody, and it is imperative that information about
those deaths be revealed to the public."

June 29, 2007 Albuquerque
Tribune
For years, Bernalillo County's Downtown detention center was mired in a
lawsuit that at times required a population cap imposed by a federal judge,
visits by lawyers and lots of public scrutiny. Much of the focus on the jail
at Fourth Street and Roma Avenue Northwest subsided in 2002 as the county
packed up and moved into a $90 million slammer on the West Side. But the
thorn in the county's side — the lawsuit known as McClendon, which continues
to loom over the West Side facility — is making another appearance. On June
28, attorneys representing inmates in the McClendon lawsuit asked a federal judge
to extend McClendon's oversight to the Downtown facility. "The (Regional
Correctional Center) is as crowded or more crowded now than when it was the
(Bernalillo County Detention Center) under the court order," said
inmates attorney Brian Pori. "The judge ought to reinstate the cap at
RCC because the same conditions that existed are still there." Pori is
one of the lawyers who sued the county in 1995 over crowded conditions, among
other alleged problems at the jail. The lawsuit still governs some of what happens
at the county lockup, even though it's in a different building with a
different name, the Metropolitan Detention Center. Pori wants the lawsuit
extended to cover the Downtown jail now run by Cornell Companies Inc. Cornell
leases the building from the county for $1.5 million a year. The county, the
U.S. Marshals Office and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement house
detainees inside the building. About 700 of the residents are immigrants,
waiting to be returned to their countries of origin. Representatives for
Cornell and ICE didn't return calls seeking comment on June 28. Pori filed a
motion in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque on June 28 arguing that lawyers
should be able to inspect the RCC because the building is owned by the county
and because county inmates are housed there. On June 28, the county had 43
inmates at the Downtown jail because there wasn't room for them at the West
Side detention center. Jeff Baker, attorney for Bernalillo County in the
McClendon lawsuit, said the county hasn't yet decided what it will do with
the motion. "The county is discussing the issue with Cornell. Under
court rules, our formal response is due in 14 days, but we may be able to
respond to it earlier than that," he said. His team must consider a multitude
of legal ramifications involved in the issues, Baker said, but he declined to
go into specifics. The McClendon name became synonymous with crowding in the
late 1990s as the city and county struggled with where to house inmates. The
MDC opened in December 2002, behind schedule and over budget, but from the
start has been operating near or above capacity. Bernalillo County Public
Safety Director John Dantis said he doesn't think the McClendon suit should
apply to the RCC. And, he said, the county is still working to wrestle free
from McClendon's grasp. "McClendon never left us. McClendon has been
with us since we've taken over," he said. "We are working hard
every single day to ensure we are in compliance with those agreements and
we're getting closer and closer. And the accreditation is another example of
our efforts." The MDC on on June 28 received high marks on its first
accreditation from the American Correctional Association, but was dinged in
five areas, three related to crowding. Pori said the Metro Detention Center
is still too crowded, adding that he plans to file a motion to hold the
county in contempt of court within two weeks. "They've had two and a
half years to bring down the population in the jail and not make it so
overcrowded and understaffed," Pori said, but it consistently has had
more inmates than its official capacity of 2,236. Baker said he expects any
request to hold in the county in contempt to fall flat. "Under state
law, the jail does not control its front door or back door. To impose fines on
the jail for a situation beyond its control is unfair and unlikely to result
in what all of us want, which is a jail which is not overcrowded." The
news comes as other lawyers are taking aim at the conditions in the Downtown
jail. Attorneys involved in an American Civil Liberties Union prison project
say they've talked to inmates who say health care is inadequate and the jail
is dirty and cold. Federal authorities also are looking into the death of a
Korean immigrant who died at an Albuquerque medical facility while in the
jail's custody last year. The woman repeatedly sought medical attention and
her requests were ignored, according to the attorneys.

June 28, 2007 Albuquerque
Tribune
Bernalillo County's Downtown jail is under intense scrutiny from a variety of
sources —including a federal judge — after the 2006 death of an inmate and
complaints about crowding and other problems. Attorneys say they've received
complaints about the conditions for inmates in the Regional Correctional
Center, which is owned by the county and leased to a private company that
oversees operations. The facility holds mostly federal inmates and detainees.
This morning, inmates' attorneys in a 12-year-old lawsuit related to crowding
at county jail facilities asked a federal judge to guarantee them access to
the Downtown jail. U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez of Santa Fe has visited
the lockup at least three times in recent months, officials said. The CEO of
the company that runs the facility, Cornell Cos. Inc., was also in town last
week to look at the jail. The visits come as immigrant rights and civil
rights attorneys investigate complaints about conditions in the center, where
70 percent of the detainees are immigrants awaiting deportation. Others in
the jail include suspects held by the U.S. Marshals Office and up to 175
detainees who can't get a bunk at the Metropolitan Detention Center because
of crowding there. Santa Fe lawyer Brandt Milstein said he was among a group
of lawyers who conducted about 30 inmate interviews at the center as part of
the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project. Those who've
done time at the Regional Correctional Center had common stories of
inadequate medical treatment during their stay, Milstein said. Many detainees
said the jail is dirty, crowded and cold. Complaints include a woman who fell
off her bunk and suffered deep facial cuts and an injured back and neck but
didn't get the medical help she needed, and a woman who spent more than a
month seeking treatment for swollen and bleeding gums and numbness in her
face. Another inmate said he called four times seeking a psychiatrist for his
anxiety. Others said they didn't have access to their medical records. One
said she was given only Tylenol for her asthma. "Certainly the information
could and should lead to a lawsuit at some point," said Milstein.
"About everything that can go wrong did go wrong." The center has
been run by Cornell Companies Inc. since Bernalillo County in 2004 vacated
the building and moved to a new jail on the West Side. The company didn't
return a call seeking comment on June 27 about the conditions. Company CEO
James Hyman visited the jail last week, according to John Dantis, the
county's director of public safety, though it was unclear whether the visit
was related to complaints about jail conditions. Vazquez's trip to the
Downtown jail was far from the first. Because of the crowding lawsuit in the
mid-1990s known as the McClendon case, she repeatedly checked in on the
center when it was run by the county. Vazquez did not return a request for an
interview, but the state's top federal judge has visited the facility several
times recently, Dantis said. "The judge wants to ensure Cornell is
providing all the services required under the standards the (Immigration and
Customs Enforcement) has promulgated, things like medical, hygiene,
recreation - all of those things," he said. Vazquez isn't alone. Lawyers
in the McClendon case filed a motion this morning in U.S. District Court in
Albuquerque asking that they be guaranteed access to the Downtown jail to
check on conditions for inmates. The inmates' attorneys are allowed to
regularly inspect conditions in the county's new West Side jail under a
settlement of the case. In their motion, they argue that they should also be allowed
to inspect the Downtown jail because it is owned by the county and because
county inmates are regularly housed there. Inmates' attorney Brian Pori said
crowding is a particular concern. For years, the county was forced to cap
population at the Downtown jail at 586. Today — after renovations — the jail
regularly holds more than 900, according to the motion filed on June 28.
Dantis said the jail, rated to hold 993 people, isn't crowded, though its
population fluctuates. "Have there been a couple of times they have
exceeded the rated cap? There may have been, but I'm not aware of it being a
problem and it was looked at carefully," he said. Dantis said no jail is
perfect. "I don't know of any institution in the U.S. where there isn't
going to be someone, either folks who are in there or lawyers, who aren't
going to complain. What's important to me is when you raise
those concerns, that they are investigated, that they are appropriately dealt
with and we continue to move forward." Bernalillo County Commission
Chairman Alan Armijo said he has not received specific complaints about the
center, but wants more information about conditions there and about the death
of a jail inmate last year. "I am concerned anytime anyone dies in a
lockup or if they aren't getting medical attention," he said. Armijo
said he's asked his staff to get more information on the situation. The New
York Times reported on June 27 that Korean immigrant Young Sook Kim died of
pancreatic cancer Sept. 11, 2006, in the Downtown lockup after pleading for
medical help for weeks but not getting it. An investigation by the Department
of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General is under way, the
Times said. Kim's death prompted Milstein to start his interviews about
conditions at the jail. Some of the issues were brought to the county's
attention this week when commissioners voted to approve what Dantis called
technical changes to the operating agreement with Cornell. The commission
approved the agreement 3-2 on June 27 after several rounds of review by the
state Attorney General's Office. "We kept sending it back for two years,
telling the county it wasn't OK" for legal reasons, Phil Sisneros,
Attorney General's Office spokesman, said. Commissioners Michael Brasher and
Deanna Archuleta voted against the agreement. Archuleta said she was troubled
by "the fact that someone was held and not given access to proper health
care." "Individuals, no matter what situation they are being held
under, deserve to not have their humans rights ignored," Archuleta said.
Milstein said he hopes the federal investigation into Kim's death looks at
current conditions at the center, as well. In a letter to the Homeland
Security Department, Milstein said Kim arrived at the RCC in late August
2006. Milstein alleges that repeated requests for medical attention for Kim
were ignored or given scant attention. During her detention, Kim was
"tossed a roll of Tums by a nurse at one point and may have been
administered a finger-prick blood test for diabetes." Kim was taken to
an outside medical facility only when her "eyes yellowed and she could
no longer eat," according to Milstein. She died at the medical facility.
"In addition to our deep concern for the unnecessary suffering Ms. Kim
endured in the absence of minimally adequate medical care, we are also
obviously and gravely concerned that ICE detainees at the RCC facility are
not currently being provided with reasonable medical attention," he
wrote. ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa said the center meets agency standards.
The agency has room for 700 immigrants at the lockup. "ICE audits the
RCC as it does other contract facilities every year. It has met the same
national detention standards that the ICE-owned facilities meet," she
said.

April 18, 2007 Santa Fe
Reporter
As hundreds of immigrants spend what may be their final days in the United
States behind bars, the living conditions in New Mexico’s main immigrant
detention facility are coming under fire. “Right now, people are being denied
health care, the place is filthy and the food is so bad there have been
hunger strikes to protest it,” Santa Fe lawyer Brandt Milstein tells SFR.
Milstein, a cooperating attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of
New Mexico, has been coordinating a team of local lawyers investigating the
conditions at downtown Albuquerque’s Regional Correctional Center (RCC).
Local attorneys and activists are keeping an eye on the conditions at
Albuquerque’s RCC, where illegal immigrants are detained. In response to
questions from SFR, Christine Parker, a spokeswoman for Cornell Companies,
the for-profit operator of RCC, issued a statement that highlighted the
company’s efforts, but did not respond directly to Milstein’s allegations:
“Cornell strives to operate excellent facilities,” the statement begins. “We
appreciate all concerns expressed by our inmates and their families, and we
work to address them as efficiently as possible.” Milstein says he has
visited the 970-bed facility, home to more than 700 Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) detainees in addition to other local and federal inmates.
He met detainees with staph infections as well as ringworm. “That’s
indicative of how bad conditions are in there,” Milstein says. While similar
complaints have led to lawsuits elsewhere—most recently at an immigration
detention facility in San Diego, Calif., earlier this year—Milstein says, “We
are not prepared to announced any lawsuit as of
now.” Marcela Díaz, the director of Santa Fe-based immigration rights group
Somos Un Pueblo Unido, says she’s also heard concerns. “We’ve heard from
family members that there’s an overall lack of information about immigration
hearings or if family members are still detained or if they’ve already been
deported,” Díaz says. Díaz says Somos also has heard “complaints from people
that they don’t know how to send money to family members there to buy food or
toiletries.”

July 21, 2006 AP
The American Civil Liberties Union dropped a lawsuit Thursday against the
state Corrections Department after Secretary Joe Williams agreed to convene a
special commission to address overcrowding at the women's prison near Grants.
The action ended a dispute that began when the civil-rights organization sued
in April. The ACLU claimed the agency wasn't complying with a 2002 law that
provides for early release of nonviolent prisoners when a prison is over
capacity for two months. Officials subsequently moved 68 women from the New
Mexico Women's Correctional Facility to a privately operated Albuquerque
jail. Corrections officials argued that the shift meant the Grants prison no
longer was over capacity.

Roswell
Correctional Center
Roswell, New Mexico
Cornell
September 7, 2002
The state Court of Appeals ruled that a lower court was right to throw out a
lawsuit filed by Lawrence Barreras, who went directly to court rather than
appeal his firing to the state Personnel Board. Classified state employees
who claim their rights under the state personnel law were violated must go to
the board, the court said in an opinion Thursday. Barreras was warden at the
Penitentiary of New Mexico when Gov. Gary Johnson took office in 1995 He
contends his opposition to Johnson's plans to privatize prisons led to his
reassignment to the Roswell Correctional Center in March 1995, then to his
termination two years later. Barreras works for a private prison firm,
Cornell Companies, as a senior warden, overseeing the Valencia County
Detention Center and the company's development in New Mexico. He supervised
the Santa Fe County jail when Cornell had the contract to operate it.
Barreras said the objections he voiced within the Corrections Department
dealt not so much with the concept of private prisons as with Johnson's plans
for privatizing New Mexico's system. In August 1996, Johnson fired
Corrections Secretary Karl Sannicks and Deputy Secretary Herb Maschner, and
asked other top administrators to resign. Sannicks and Maschner had openly
questioned the potential cost savings from private prisons. Eventually, the
Johnson administration contracted with private prisons in Hobbs and Santa
Rosa to house inmates. (Santa fe New Mexican.com)

San Miguel County
JailSan Miguel, New Mexico
Correctional Systems Inc.
July 29, 2004
Guards Richard Tafoya and James Montoya also accused jail administrator
Patrick Snedeker of failing to warn guards of threats on their lives by
inmates. San Miguel County took back control of the jail two weeks ago
from a private company, County Manager Les Montoya said. Snedeker, a 19-year
corrections veteran, took over as jail administrator July 12 after being hired
by the county, which last spring severed its contract with Correctional
Systems Inc. to run the jail. The change from a privately run jail to
county control "affected both staff and inmates as we put into place all
the common standards to run a facility," Snedeker said. At least
two of the guards who left were upset about a new schedule of rotating staff
within the facility, Snedeker said. A security sweep Wednesday—
involving State Police, Las Vegas police, San Miguel County sheriff's
deputies and state Corrections Department officers— found homemade weapons in
several cells, Snedeker said. The shakedown also discovered prisoners had
tried to cut through a wall in one cell, he said. (ABQ Journal)

July 29, 2004
A walkout by 11 detention officers and an anonymous note from an inmate
warning of violence and destruction on Wednesday led to a shutdown at the San
Miguel County Jail. Specially trained officers from the State Police
and Corrections Department, called in by jail administrator Patrick W. Snedeker,
marched into the jail a few minutes before 5 p.m. By 8 p.m., they had found
several metal shanks and some wooden ones, and identified six inmates who
will be shipped to the Northern New Mexico Correctional Facility outside
Santa Fe. Snedeker, the jail's warden for the few weeks since San Miguel
County ended its relationship with private jail operator Correctional Systems
Inc., said changes in the jail's operations probably brought problems to the
surface. "We've had some challenges," Snedeker said.
"Transition and change often affect people that way." Earlier in
the week, three officers quit because they were assigned to supervise inmate
crews in roadside cleanup, Snedeker said. The 11 who left on Wednesday didn't
state specific reasons, he said. Besides the handmade weapons, State
Police and Department of Corrections officers found a cell wall that had been
damaged in what is thought to have been an escape attempt. Snedeker said that
last weekend three inmates were discovered with part of a metal door frame
and were attempting to damage a ceiling. As the county began managing
its jail again a few weeks ago, new procedures were put in place to
familiarize each officer with every unit and work station, Snedeker said. As
those changes began, some officers weren't happy, he said. (ABQ
Journal)

April 15, 2004
San Miguel County officials have decided not to renew their contract with Correctional Systems Inc. to operate the county jail.
County commissioners voted Tuesday to invoke a clause in the contract that
gives the San Diego-based company 90 days notice that the contract will not
be renewed. CSI has run the jail for the past two years. Commission
Chairman LeRoy H. Garcia said economics were the primary reason for Tuesday's
decision. "They've done a good job. I have no complaints," he
said of CSI. "It's just they're nickel-and-diming us." He
estimated the county could save $400,000 annually if it resumes operations of
the lockup. (AP)

August 21, 2003
San Miguel County jail officials are investigating an attempted escape that
occurred Tuesday night. Jail warden Chuck Ala said Wednesday that the
number of inmates involved in the attempt was still under investigation. No
inmates escaped from the facility when the attempted break was foiled around
10:30 p.m., he said. No other details of the failed escape attempt were
available from Ala on Wednesday. Four inmates escaped in June 2002
while the jail was operated by the county; those inmates were eventually
caught. California-based Correctional Systems Inc. began operating the
160-bed facility in July 2002. CSI was recently granted a one-year extension
of its contract and is scheduled to be paid $142,000 a month— or $1.7 million
for 12 months. CSI has recently come under fire by inmate rights advocates
who say they have gathered reports of poor treatment of inmates at the jail.
Ala has denied the claims. Under CSI management, county officials hoped
the operation would pay for itself by housing inmates from other
jurisdictions but fell short of that goal during the past fiscal year. The
county ended up paying $700,000 out of its general fund to make up for the
shortfall. (ABQ Journal)

August 14, 2003
The San Miguel County Commission on Tuesday approved a one-year extension of
a contract with a private operator for the county's jail. Activists who
have pointed out complaints about inmate treatment at the facility decried
the move. "Unfortunately they went this route because there's a
can of worms being opened and I'm hoping they can eat worms," said Lorenzo
Flores, a member of the Concerned Citizens Committee of Las Vegas, N.M.
The county ended up paying $700,000 from the county's general fund to make up
a shortfall in jail revenues last fiscal year. The county paid CSI a total of
$1.8 million to operate the jail for the past fiscal year, but had expected
nearly $1.3 million in revenue would come from housing inmates from other
jurisdictions. The shortfall occurred when the number of out-of-county
inmates came in lower than expected. Duran said he's been working on
complaints from inmates who allege they were not given insulin or were given
medication by nonlicensed personnel. (ABQ Journal)

July 24, 2003
San Miguel County Jail inmates and their families are complaining about
unsanitary conditions and treatment that leads to violence, said a long-time
activist for inmates' civil rights. "It's like opening a can of
horribles," said Dwight Duran, whose name became part of a 19-year
federal consent decree enforcing greater rights for inmates in New Mexico. An
official with the privately run jail and county officials disputed Duran's
assessment. Duran has been visiting Las Vegas, N.M., in the past few weeks at
the behest of local activist Lorenzo Flores. Duran said Tuesday that
complaints he's fielded from former inmates and their families include a
description of a "cruel game" played by jail officers. Each week,
the officers distribute two rolls of toilet paper per cell block by throwing
the rolls up in the air and yelling "Thunderdome!" Duran said. The
inmates have to fight for the paper, which is then used as barter.
"People fight over it ... The lack of paper leads to all kinds of
illness," said Duran. Chuck Ala, warden of the jail that is run by
Correctional Systems Inc., said jail officers distribute the toilet paper to
each cell block once a week, but not in the way Duran described. "They
hand it out," Ala said. Duran is president of the Committee on Prison
Accountability, which is part of the Center for Justice, an organization
based in Albuquerque. He plans to hold a town hall meeting on the CSI
operation because of the number of complaints he's received, Duran said.
Flores, who said he experienced filthy conditions and other problems after he
was jailed several weeks ago for unpaid traffic warrants and a drunken
driving charge, wants San Miguel County to end its dealings with CSI.
"It's being run like a warehouse — jails are supposed to be people, not
buildings and bars — and we oppose any more cooperation with the
county," said Flores, who represents the Las Vegas Concerned Citizens
Committee. Flores said he stayed in a holding cell with only a drain for
inmates to relieve themselves. Warden Ala said those in the holding cell are
escorted to restrooms. Flores also questioned whether CSI should continue
operating the jail, which can house 140 inmates, because of a revenue loss
last year due to fewer than expected inmates from outside jurisdictions. CSI
began operating the jail in July 2002, but the county's one-year contract
with the San Diego-based company has been under review by state officials for
several months, said County Manager Les Montoya. County officials recently
asked for a one-year contract extension. The county commissioners have not
voted to approve the extension because they're waiting for approval from the
state agencies, Montoya said. Montoya and San Miguel County Commission
Chairman LeRoy Garcia said they're satisfied with the conditions at the jail
and CSI's management. Garcia said that on his monthly tours of the jail, the
conditions are clean and inmates say they are treated well. Otherwise, the
jail isn't supposed to be overly pleasant, Garcia said. "Jail is a place
where you're incarcerated when you do something wrong," he said. Montoya
said he and county commissioners have heard complaints from inmates' family
members. "Some of those complaints have been about unsanitary conditions
and unnecessary use of force" and those have been passed along to CSI,
Montoya said. The county paid CSI $1.8 million to operate the jail in the
past fiscal year, Montoya said, with an expectation that nearly $1.3 million
in revenue would come from housing inmates from other jurisdictions. However,
that estimate fell short by $700,000, Montoya said. The money was paid out of
the general fund, Montoya said. The one-year contract extension calls for
payments of $142,000 a month — about $1.7 million for the year — plus
payments of $25 per day for every inmate beyond a housing level of 130
inmates, Montoya said. (Albuquerque Journal)

Santa Fe County Adult Detention
Center
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Formerly run by Management and Training Corporation, Physicians Network
Association (run formerly by Cornell)February 15, 2009 Trans Border Project
Complaints about medical care at the Reeves County Detention Center aren’t
new. In 2007 an inmate went on a hunger strike protesting inadequate medical
care. When inmates protested after the death of an inmate in solitary
confinement on December 12, 2008, they alleged that medical deficiencies and
malpractice were widespread. Six weeks later the immigrant inmates rioted
again with the same demands that they be provided with decent medical care.
Juan Angel Guerra, a South Texas attorney who was the former district
attorney in Willacy County, says some 200 inmates at the immigrant prison
have enlisted his services to address their concerns about medical and other
abuses. During the week of the Jan. 31 disturbance, the county kept the
prison on “lockdown,” denying access to reporters and all others, including
Guerra. Neither the county, which owns the prisons, nor GEO Group, which runs
the immigrant prison, released any information about the concerns of the
rioting prisoners, simply saying in brief releases that the “issues” were
being resolved. Similarly, the Bureau of Prisons, which contracts with Reeves
County, to hold the immigrant prisoners, ignored public requests for
information. A full week after authorities said that they restored control
over the prison, County Attorney Alva Alvarez sent a
letter to Guerra denying his request to meet with his clients. "We are
doing everything possible to meet your request," Reeves County Attorney
Alva Alvarez wrote. "However, since the facility was destroyed, there is
no secure place for you to meet with your clients at this time." Reeves
County Detention Center is not a maximum-security prison. It has been
variously described by prison officials as a minimum or low-security facility
– hence the “detention center” designation. The immigrants detained at the
Pecos prison are not violent criminal offenders but rather immigrants, often
legal ones albeit noncitizens, who have been
convicted generally of nonviolent felonies like drug possession and various
immigration violations. In the name of guaranteeing public safety, Reeves
County officials have kept the prison off limits to reporters and attorneys.
And in an apparent effort to keep the story about inmate protests from
gaining momentum in the media and to keep it away from the view of state and
federal officials, county officials and the private prison contractors have
refused to comment on prison conditions. Among those who have declined to
comment about the state of medical care at the detention center is the
private contractor that is responsible for this care. Leader in Correctional
Healthcare -- Physicians Network Association (PNA), a Lubbock-based company
that calls itself a leader in correctional healthcare,” has subcontracted
with Reeves County since 2002. As the owner of the prison, Reeves County has
a contract with the Bureau of Prisons to hold fedeal immigrant prisoners. But
rather than run the facility itself, the county subcontracts its
responsibilities to GEO Group to operate and manage the prison and to PNA to
provide medical and dental care. (See Medical Claims Part One) In its presentation
as part of the negotiations over its current contract with the county, PNA
assured the county that “as a subcontractor, PNA has fourteen years’
experience assisting operators exceed expectations.” It emphasized the
“cost-effective” character of its medical services, and promised that it
would “work as your partner to ensure appropriate healthcare without
compromising operations.” “We are recognized for our responsiveness to the
needs of our customers,” boasted PNA, referring as “customers” to the private
prison firms like GEO (with which it has ten contracts) and counties like
Reeves that own prisons not to the inmates it cares for. PNA included GEO
Group and Management and Training Corporation (MTC) among its references, and
it told the county: “PNA has never had a contract canceled or been removed
from a facility.” It noted that it was “proud of its record of no
substantiated grievances in any facility.” The Dec. 12 prisoner protest at
Reeves County Detention Center started when inmates saw the body of Jesus
Manuel Galindo removed from solitary confinement. Inmates contend that
Galindo did not receive medical attention for his epileptic seizures. The
Galindo family says it has filed a lawsuit against the Reeves County
Detention Center. David Galindo, the dead inmate’s brother, told a reporter
after the second riot that started Jan. 31, “The reason they’re having riots
is because their personnel is doing the wrong thing just like they did to my
brother.” After the second disturbance started, an inmate called the media.
The Pecos prisoner said that the protest began when prison officials placed
Ramon Garcia, 25, in solitary confinement after he complained of dizziness
and feeling ill. “All we wanted was for them to give him medical care and
because they didn't, things got out of control and people started fires in
several offices,” said the inmate, who declined to give his name for fear of
reprisals by officials. Lana Williams, a family friend of Garcia, told KFOX
TV in El Paso that his medical neglect had been a problem since August 2008.
"He's gotten to the point where he can't walk down the hall without
holding on to the wall, and this has been going on and getting progressively
worse," said Williams. Garcia told her was being been placed in solitary
confinement whenever he complained about feeling ill. PNA’s Medical Gulag --
It shouldn’t be surprising that long-running complaints about medical cars
abuses sparked the inmate protests at the Reeves County Detention Center. Six
years ago the Justice Department found widespread medical abuses at another
county-owned, privately run adult detention center, where the same
subcontractor, Physicians Network Association, was also the the medical
services provider. Concerned about civil rights violations at the detention
center, the Justice Department sent a study team from its Civil Rights
division to investigate the jail in May 2002 to determine if there were
violations that could be prosecuted under the Civil Rights of
Institutionalized Persons Act (1997). On March 6, 2003 the Justice Department
sent a letter and a long report of its findings to Santa Fe County, which
owned the jail and contracted with Management and Training Corporation (MTC),
a private prison firm, to operate the jail. The county had an intergovernmental
services agreement (IGSA) with the Justice Department to hold detainees
waiting trial who were under the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and the
Bureau of Indian Affairs. MTC subcontracted the medical services part of the
IGSA contract to PNA. Summarizing its findings, the Justice Department
stated: “We find that persons confined suffer harm or the risk of serious
harm from deficiencies in the facility’s provision of medical and mental
health care, suicide prevention, protection of
inmates from harm, fire safety, and sanitation.” In its report, the Justice
Department team specified 52 actions that were needed “to rectify the
identified deficiencies and to protect the constitutional rights of the
facility’s inmates to bring the jail into compliance with civil rights
standards. Thirty-eight of the 52 identified deficiencies related to medical
services. The Justice Department report concluded: “The Detention Center,
through PNA, provides inadequate medical services in the following areas: intake,
screening, and referral; acute care; emergent care; chronic and prenatal
care; and medication administration and management. As a result, inmates at
the Detention Center with serious medical needs are at risk for harm.” The
Justice Department’s investigation was sparked by the suicide of Tyson
Johnson in January 2002 at the Santa Fe County Detention Center. Johnson, who
was awaiting a hearing on charges of stalking, was a longtime sufferer of
severe claustrophobia. In a New York Times (June 6, 2004) story on the
Justice Department’s investigation and MTC, Suzan Garcia, Johnson’s mother,
said that had tried to contact the jail because she was concerned about her
son’s psychological condition. ''I called the jail and asked to speak to a
doctor, but they said they didn't have a doctor,'' Ms. Garcia said. ''When I
asked to speak to the warden, they just put me on hold and then the phone
would disconnect.'' According to the Justice Department’s finding and
associated reports, Johnson had asked to see a psychologist, but the
580-inmate jail didn’t have a doctor let alone a psychologist or a
psychiatrist. So Mr. Johnson tried slitting his wrist and neck with a razor,
and when that failed, as the New York Times reported, he told the jail's
nurse, Sheila Turner, “Today I am going to take myself out.” A guard, Crystal
Quintana, told investigators that the nurse replied, ''Let him.'' Ms. Turner
denies this, her lawyer said. As the New York Times recounted: “Ten minutes
later, Mr. Johnson, 27 and with no previous criminal record, was found
hanging from a sprinkler head in a windowless isolation cell where he was
supposedly being closely watched.” Despite being placed on suicide watch,
Johnson hung himself with a supposedly “suicide-proof” blanket inside the
isolation cell. His family contends that instead of tending to his
psychological problems, the medical staff neglected him and taunted him. The
NYT story by Fox Butterfield described the state of mental healthcare for
which PNA was responsible: “The nearest doctor on contract was in Lubbock,
Tex., a two-hour plane flight away, and he visited the jail on average only
every six weeks, seeing only a few patients each time, the report found. The
nurse had an order in her file to spend no more than five minutes with any inmate
patient, which the report said was not enough time. “There was no
psychologist or psychiatrist, and although the nurse had no mental health
training care, she was distributing drugs for mentally ill inmates, the
report said. “The jail did have a mental health clinician, Thomas Welter, who
was employed by Physicians Network Association, a subcontractor. But he never
did any evaluations of mentally troubled inmates, the report said. Instead,
he boasted to them about his own history of drug use, according to a recent
deposition by Cody Graham, who was then warden of the Santa Fe jail. Not long
after Mr. Johnson hanged himself, Mr. Graham escorted Mr. Welter to the gate
and told him not to come back.” Pattern of PNA Medical Malpractice -- The
Justice Department found a pattern of gross medical care deficiencies at the
Santa Fe jail. Among its findings were the following: · “PNA’s intake medical
screening, assessment, and referral process is insufficient to ensure that
inmates receive necessary medical care during their incarceration.” · “Even
when PNA staff identify inmates with serious medical
needs during the intake process, they fail to refer them for appropriate
care.” · “Chart review revealed that of those inmates in our sample who did
receive the initial health screening, none were referred to the Health
Services Unit for the medical attention they needed.” · “The grievance system
does not provide an avenue for resolving problems of access to health
services. The grievances we reviewed included a complaint from one inmate who
was supposed to have an x-ray, but had received no response from the Health
Services Unit despite having filed two grievances in three weeks.” Seven
Suicide Attempts, One Completed in Seven Months of MTC/PNA -- · “As of the
time of our visit, during the seven months since MTC assumed management of
the facility, there had been one completed suicide and seven attempted
suicides. A review of these incidents reveals that the Detention Center staff fail to respond appropriately to inmates’ indications
of mental health crises and possible suicidality.” · “For example, one inmate
answered several of the initial mental health suicide screening questions in
the affirmative, including that he had recently experienced a significant
loss, that he felt that he had nothing to look forward to, and that he ‘just
didn’t care.’ He reported that he had been diagnosed with Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder and that he was taking an antidepressant for this condition.
He also stated that he felt that he needed to see a psychologist. Despite
these indicators, the screening nurse concluded that the inmate needed only a
routine mental health referral, as opposed to an immediate mental health
evaluation and determination whether mental health services were necessary.”
· “Another incident involved an inmate who cut her wrists with a razor and
was placed on a 15-minute suicide watch in the medical unit. According to the
subsequent investigation of the incident, the inmate was upset because her
medications were stopped. The inmate was treated for lacerations to her
wrists and released from suicide watch without ever receiving a mental health
evaluation or mental health clearance.” An inmate placed on watch status in a
medical unit cell for his own safety due to mental illness and seizure
disorder was able to cut both of his wrists with a razor blade within 5
minutes of his arrival in that cell. The only way that staff knew that the
event had occurred was when blood began running down the floor from his
cell." Five Minutes Per Patient -- · “The nurse practitioner’s personnel
file included a memo from the Vice President of Operations of PNA instructing
her to see one patient for each five minutes of scheduled clinical time. Many
inmates, particularly those with acute or chronic conditions, require
significantly more clinical attention to ensure that their needs are
adequately addressed.” · “PNA does not test for sexually transmitted diseases
(STDs). STDs are prevalent in jail populations. Left untreated, STDs can
cause brain and organ damage and damage to fetuses. PNA’s failure to screen
for STDs places the inmates and the community at risk.” · “PNA fails to
provide timely access to appropriate medical care for inmates when they
develop acute medical needs. Medical care is unreasonably and unnecessarily
delayed and, even when provided, often inadequate.” · “Even once inmates
succeed in getting to the Health Services Unit, they frequently receive
substandard care. We reviewed the medical records of ten inmates seen for
primary care by the nurse practitioner within a one-month period. Six of the
ten inmates received substandard care.” PNA’s Failure to Respond to Acute
Medical Needs -- “Additional chart reviews
confirmed PNA’s failure to respond to inmates’ acute medical needs. For example,
one inmate reported breast lumps and lumps in her armpit, chest pain, and
swelling in her legs and feet. Although a mammogram was ordered in October
2001, it had not been done by the time of our visit to the Detention Center
seven months later.” · “At the time of our visit, the only physician
providing supervision or care at the Detention Center was the doctor who is
the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PNA and is based in Lubbock, Texas. As
the CEO of PNA, this doctor has numerous responsibilities, including
supervising the medical care at each of the facilities at which PNA provides
care throughout the south and southwestern United States. This physician was
visiting the Detention Center an average of once every six weeks, and saw
only a few patients during each visit. While he is available by telephone for
consultation, he does not visit the Detention Center frequently enough to
provide adequate supervision. Given the deficiencies in care and other
problems identified in this letter, additional physician supervision at the
Detention Center is necessary.” No Pre-Natal Care, Improper Treatment for
Seizures -- · “PNA fails to provide inmates with needed medications in a
timely manner, and fails to monitor medication in inmates with serious
medical needs.” · “The Detention Center fails to provide for continuity of
medications for inmates upon arrival at the facility. Several files we
reviewed revealed that the nurse practitioner does not continue the same
medications for inmates that were prescribed for them prior to their
incarceration. Sometimes the nurse practitioner simply discontinues the
medication, and sometimes she changes the inmate’s prescription to older,
less expensive medications which are significantly less effective.” · “PNA
fails to provide adequate prenatal care for pregnant inmates. Of the four
pregnant women at the Detention Center at the time of our visit, none had any
prenatal visit with an OB/GYN during their incarceration documented, despite
the fact that two of the women were in their third trimester of pregnancy and
near term.” · “An inmate had been prescribed a medication for his seizure
disorder, in addition to several other medications, and his blood levels of
the seizure medication had been measured. Although the laboratory results
showed that the amount of this drug in his system was not enough to achieve
the intended therapeutic effect, there was no reference to this finding
anywhere else in his medical record. Moreover, staff failed to respond
appropriately, such as adjusting his medication. Seven days later, the inmate
attempted suicide by cutting his wrists, then
suffered a seizure.” Keeping it Cost-Effective -- · “PNA’s formulary does not
contain effective medication for inmates with serious medical needs such as
hypertension, heart failure and diabetes. In addition, the formulary includes
many less expensive, less effective medications than are currently available
for the treatment of some diseases.” · “Some inmates at the Detention Center
are currently provided with less effective medications with greater side
effects than they had received prior to incarceration, which can lead to
deterioration in inmates with mental illness and end-organ damage in inmates
with diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.” · “Even when staff did
monitor medication levels, they failed to respond to indications that an
inmate’s dosage was inappropriate. Although the laboratory results showed
that the amount of this drug in his system was not enough to achieve the
intended therapeutic effect, there was no reference to this finding anywhere
else in his medical record. Moreover, staff failed to respond appropriately,
such as adjusting his medication. Seven days later, the inmate attempted
suicide by cutting his wrists, then suffered a
seizure.” PNA and MTC Leave Town -- Neither MTC nor
PNA stuck around Santa Fe to help the country resolve its problems with the
Justice Department. Both MTC and PNA said they had to terminate their
contracts because they were losing money. Soon after the Justice Department
issued its findings in March 2004 on medical care and other problems at the
Santa Fe County Detention Center, PNA pulled out of its contract with MTC. A
year later in April 2005, MTC announced that it had “chosen to end this
contract because it has not been possible to operate profitably. Under two
different contracts and with two different medical providers, MTC and both
medical providers have lost money.” Before the private prison companies
terminated their unprofitable contracts, their personnel left town. MTC asked
Warden Cody Graham to leave his job in Santa Fe, and he transferred to
another MTC county jail in Gallup, New Mexico. According to a heart-rending
investigative story in the Santa Fe Reporter (April 2, 2003)on
the death of a jail inmate because of deficient medical care, PNA’s regional
medical consultant left at the same time as the warden. That PNA supervisor
was Katherine Graham, wife of the MTC warden. A story in the Albuquerque
Journal (June 28, 2004) on the “tough negotiations” following “state and
federal audits slamming the facility for inadequate medical services”
reported, “PNA will not return if and when the county and MTC reach a new
agreement, jail administrators have said.” County Commissioner Paul Duran
recommended that the county would do a better job running the jail. He noted
that the Utah-based MTC – a for-profit company – was not providing enough
medical staffing or case managers to deal with inmate needs. “I think it’s
the profit element that is the root of all these problems.” The county did
take over management of the jail after MTC left, and worked with the Justice
Department to rectify its findings of deficiency. Judith Greene, director of
Justice Strategies, echoed Commissioner Duran’s observation. She told the New
York Times, ''This goes to the heart of the problem in the private prison
business,'' Ms. Greene said. ''You get what you pay for.''

November 19, 2007 New Mexican
Dickie Ortega lost his life at the hands of one man named Jesus and another
named Good. And while a Santa Fe County jury's conviction of one of those men
on second-degree murder and five other charges Monday provided some peace of
mind, Ortega's mother said the tragic chain of events at the county jail that
led to her son's death will remain a source of pain. "When they asked
Dickie why he was there, he told them the truth, and it cost him his
life," said Cordelia Martinez after the jury found Jesus
Aviles-Dominguez guilty. "If it wasn't for doctors and medication, I
don't know if I could go through this. I don't know if I'll ever get over it.
It's like a nightmare." Martinez, her husband, Antonio Martinez, and her
daughter and Ortega's sister, Delilah Brown, sat through every day of
testimony in Aviles-Dominguez's trial, which lasted nearly three weeks. They
also sat through the September trial of Daniel Good, who pleaded no contest
to two counts of aggravated battery involving death and two counts of
intimidation of a witness in the middle of those proceedings. Cordelia
Martinez said she was satisfied with the jury's verdict and thanked members
for "doing their duty." "Well, at least I can put my son to
rest now," she said. "He was a good and wonderful son." In
addition to second-degree murder, the jury of eight men and four women
convicted Aviles-Dominguez, 32, of two counts of intimidation of a witness
and three counts of conspiracy. He was acquitted of aggravated battery with a
deadly weapon, three counts of conspiracy and three counts of intimidation of
a witness. Aviles-Dominguez, who had to serve only 20 more days in jail at
the time of the assault on Ortega, now faces up to 52 1/2 years in prison. "Bitches," Aviles-Dominguez said to no
one in particular as sheriff's deputies escorted him from the courtroom after
his conviction. Other inmates who were in the pod at the county jail when
Ortega, 32, was beaten to death testified that Aviles-Dominguez and Good were
the co-leaders of the dormlike accommodations. Ortega, a Chimayó resident,
allegedly made the fatal mistake of accusing a man he was arrested with on
narcotics and receiving-stolen-property charges of being a snitch or a
"rat," according to the inmates' testimony. Aviles-Dominguez and
Good allegedly attacked and beat up the man Ortega accused, the witnesses
said. However, another inmate stood up for the man who was attacked and said
he wasn't a rat. That led to a series of at least three retaliatory beatings
of Ortega — mainly at the hands of Aviles-Dominguez and Good — which became
progressively more brutal, the inmates testified. Finally — according to two
eyewitnesses — Aviles-Dominguez began stomping repeatedly on Ortega's head,
which left him unconscious. Aviles-Dominguez and Good refused to allow one of
the inmates to get medical attention for Ortega, an inmate testified.
Aviles-Dominguez testified he didn't beat Ortega or the other man, and at one
point tried to give them advice on how things worked behind bars. He also
told jurors another inmate, Joe Coriz, stomped on Ortega's head, and
Aviles-Dominguez broke up that beating. While the verdict was not what his
client wanted, Gary Mitchell, Aviles-Dominguez's lawyer, said he thought the
system did its job. "At the end of the day, I walk out thinking it was a
fair jury, a fair prosecution and a fair judge," he said. "One can't
complain about that. But with all the guys in there (when the beating
occurred), we'll never know what in the Sam Hell happened." One of the
big problems spotlighted by the Ortega case is understaffing at jails and
prisons, Mitchell said. "You wonder where the hell were
the detention officers in all of this," he added. At the time of
the beating, one guard had been assigned to watch over three pods containing
about 60 inmates, Sheriff Greg Solano said at the time. A second guard was
assigned to man a control unit that overlooks six pods of more than 100
inmates, he said. A private company, Management Training Corp., ran the jail
at the time, and a federal study had previously highlighted short-staffing as
a problem. Ortega's family received a $600,000 settlement paid by MTC earlier
this year after filing a wrongful death lawsuit. Prosecutors initially said
they would seek the death penalty against both Good and Aviles-Dominguez. And
though they later backed off those plans, state District Court Judge Tim
Garcia ruled that if the penalty would have been in play, one jury would have
had to decide the men's guilt or innocence while another would have decided
the penalty. Good's attorney, Jeff Buckels, called the ruling "a huge
fringe benefit."

August 30, 2007 The New Mexican
The mother of a Chimayo man who hanged himself in the Santa Fe County jail
two years ago is suing the County Commission, the sheriff and the firm that
used to run the jail. Michael G. Martinez, 39, was jailed Aug. 21, 2005, on
charges of aggravated assault, aggravated battery, assault on a peace
officer, aggravated fleeing of a law-enforcement officer, possession of drug
paraphernalia, reckless driving, driving with a suspended license and other
traffic infractions. Three days later, he was found dead, hanging from a
cloth blanket tied to a light fixture in his cell in the medical ward of the
Santa Fe County Adult Detention Center on N.M. 14, south of Santa Fe. Sheriff
Greg Solano said at the time that Martinez was put in the medical ward
because he had needle marks on his arms and appeared to be in withdrawal, and
he was on a suicide watch where jailers were to check on him every 30
minutes. Last week, lawyer John Faure sued on behalf of Martinez's mother,
Elsie Martinez of Santa Cruz. The complaint says Management and Training
Corp., which ran the country jail at the time, should have checked on
Martinez every 10 minutes and searched the cell to remove “any dangerous
article or clothing.” Management and Training Corp. has “maintained a custom
or policy which exhibited indifference to the constitutional rights of person
incarcerated ... which permitted or condoned deviations from appropriate
policies,” the complaint says. By hiring the company, it says, Solano and the
commission effectively violated Martinez's constitutional rights of due
process and protection from cruel and unusual punishment. The complaint seeks
“at least $10,000” for the expenses of Martinez's funeral and burial, plus
punitive and exemplary damages for “intentional misconduct, recklessness,
gross negligence, willfulness and/or callous indifference, and/or because
defendants' conduct was motivated by malice, evil motive or intent.” Solano
and a spokesman for Management and Training Corp. in Centerville, Utah,
declined comment. The firm ran the county jail from 2001 to 2005, when county
government again took over operations. Earlier this year, the firm was named
as a defendant in a similar lawsuit brought by the parents of Chris Roybal,
who overdosed on heroin while in jail in February 2005. It alleges Roybal got
the drugs from a corrections officer. The court record indicates that case
has been transferred to another jurisdiction.

August 29, 2007 New Mexican
When his fellow inmates at the Santa Fe County jail asked why he was
incarcerated, Dickie Ortega made an explosive statement that might have cost
him his life, lawyers said Tuesday. “He said, ‘It’s because my cousin ratted
me out,’ ” prosecutor Joseph Campbell told jurors during opening statements
Tuesday in the trial of Daniel Good, one of two men charged with beating
Ortega to death in June 2004. “There are rules in jail,” Campbell said, “and
one of these rules is that you don’t rat somebody out.” Jeff Buckels, Good’s
attorney, said Ortega’s statement was like igniting a can of gasoline. “This
was not the dorm at St. John’s or the boys locker
room at Prep,” he said. “You better believe there are rules (in jail). One
you hear over and over again is that rats are taken care of.” The
consequences were first meted out to Brad Ortega, the man Dickie Ortega
called his cousin, though they were not actually related, Campbell said. When
Brad Ortega returned to the cell pod, he was ordered into Good’s cell and
attacked by at least three men, Campbell said. After the beating, the men
ordered Brad Ortega, who sustained a gash on his head, to strip off his
bloody clothes, throw them in the trash and take a shower, he said.
Meanwhile, the men cleaned the cell, Campbell said. While Brad Ortega was in
the shower, one of the 20 inmates in the pod said he knew Brad Ortega and he
was “a stand-up guy” and “he knows the rules,” Campbell said. At that point,
he said, some of the inmates confronted and beat Dickie Ortega, a 32-year-old
from Chimayó who was being held on receiving-stolen-property and drug-related
charges. Afterward, Dickie Ortega also was ordered to strip off his clothing
and take a shower, the attorney said. Later, Good, 34, and another inmate,
Jesus Aviles-Dominguez, 31, made Dickie Ortega and Brad Ortega fight each
other, though it was not a vicious brawl, Campbell said. After that, Good,
Aviles-Dominguez and another inmate again beat the two Ortegas, then forced them to again take off their bloody clothes
and take a shower while the cell was cleaned, he said. Finally, Dickie Ortega
was beaten a fourth time, Campbell said. That time, he was forced against a
wall and stepped on while he pleaded for his life, the lawyer said. Brad
Ortega, Campbell said, watched the last beating, helplessly, from the upper
bunk in their cell. Buckels admitted Good “popped (Dickie Ortega) a couple
times” during the beatings, but Good didn’t kill Ortega. “In fact, he tried
to stop it,” Buckels told jurors. “He was trying to save him from a man named
Chuy.” Chuy — Aviles-Dominguez’s nickname — was the boss of the pod in which
the Ortegas had been placed, Buckels said. And during the last beating of
Dickie Ortega, Aviles-Dominguez “went berserk,” Buckels said.
Aviles-Dominguez braced himself with one hand on the sink and the other on
the bed and stomped on Dickie Ortega’s head, he said. “The violence he dealt
to Dickie Ortega was a very different kind,” Buckels said. “He bounced his
head off the concrete like a basketball. It was then that people started
getting very concerned that this guy was in trouble.” Dickie Ortega’s mother,
who was in court Tuesday, cried and held her hands to her face when Buckels
described what happened to her son. “Daniel’s not
here asking for a medal,” Buckels said. “He’s a bad boy at a bad time in a
bad place. He wasn’t nice to Dickie Ortega. He just didn’t kill him.” After
the beatings, the two Ortegas were not allowed out of their cell, Campbell
said. An inmate later alerted guards to Dickie Ortega’s unresponsive and
bloody condition, he said. Dickie Ortega’s injuries included a subdural
hematoma, liver and spleen damage and bruising, Campbell said. Good, a Santa
Fe man with a lengthy criminal record that includes both violence and
property crimes, is charged with first-degree
murder, aggravated battery causing death, two counts of intimidation of a
witness, two counts of tampering with evidence and six counts of conspiracy.
His trial is set to last 16 days, though the days are spread out over the
month of September and won’t conclude until the end of the month.
Aviles-Dominguez is scheduled to go on trial in November for Dickie Ortega’s
murder and the beating of Brad Ortega. The District Attorney’s Office
announced in May that it would not seek the death penalty for either man.
However, state District Court Judge Tim Garcia ruled in June that if prosecutors
had decided to push for the death penalty in the case, he would have one jury
decide the defendants’ guilt or innocence and another decide their
sentencing.

May 7, 2007 AP
Two lawsuits stemming from the beating death of an inmate and a female prisoner's
alleged rape at the Santa Fe County jail have been settled. Attorney Robert
Rothstein, who filed the wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of Dickie Ortega's
family, said Friday that the terms of the settlement are confidential. An
agreement reached in the lawsuit filed on behalf of Veronica Sanchez also is
confidential, attorney's with Rothstein's firm said.
Ortega, 32, died June 5, 2004, after suffering serious head and facial
injuries and a crushed larynx. He had been arrested earlier that month on charges
of receiving stolen properties. His family sued in 2006, claiming that Santa
Fe County and the company that formerly ran its jail _ Utah-based Management
and Training Corp. _ did nothing as gang members repeatedly assaulted other
inmates. Inadequate staffing, lack of supervision of inmates and lack of
video monitoring contributed to Ortega's death, the lawsuit claimed. Two men
prosecutors identified as gang members have been charged with first-degree
murder in Ortega's death. An MTC spokesman had no comment, and a county
government spokesman said county attorney Steve Ross was unavailable to
address the settlement. Federal court records show the case was dismissed
March 29 _ a day after a motion was filed by Ortega's family, saying the
plaintiffs had "settled and resolved" all disputes in the
litigation. In Sanchez's case, attorneys say the lawsuit was dismissed Friday
by agreement of all parties. Sanchez had reported that she was raped by other
inmates at the jail in 2004 and then strip-searched after she was brought
back to the jail after a hospital exam. The lawsuit claimed the search was
"utterly useless and unnecessary and constituted further humiliation and
degradation." It also alleged negligence and civil rights violation. MTC
and various county officials were named as defendants.

August 25, 2006 The New Mexican
Santa Fe County has interviewed four people who applied to be the new jail
administrator. One high-profile candidate, however, took her name out of the
hat just before interviews were slated to begin Thursday. Ann Casey, a
lobbyist and Illinois jail official embroiled in controversy over her
relationship with state Corrections Secretary Joe Williams, had applied for
the job along with five others. Casey canceled her interview Thursday and said
she no longer wanted to be considered for the job, according to Assistant
County Attorney Carolyn Glick. Casey was in the news in New Mexico when the
state put Williams on unpaid leave and launched an investigation. Officials
looked into his relationship with the woman, including use of his work cell
phone and other expenses after the Albuquerque Journal reported billing
records for his state cell phone showed 644 calls between the two over five
months. Williams returned to work and is on probation following what a
governor's aide called "a lapse in judgment." Illinois officials
also looked into the matter, but Casey remains in her position of assistant
warden of programs at the Centralia Correctional Center, said department
spokesman Derek Schnapp. Casey was not available for comment.

July 7, 2006 New Mexican
Santa Fe County and the private company that operated its jail until April
2005 have agreed to pay $8.5 million to thousands of people who were
strip-searched while being booked into the jail during a three-year period.
While the county and Management Training Corp. deny in settlement documents
that the blanket strip-search policy violated the law, a class-action lawsuit
filed in January 2005 claimed it violated people's civil and constitutional
rights. Terms of the settlement dictate that MTC, which ran the jail from
October 2001 until April 2005, will pay $8 million while the county will
shell out $500,000. Lawyers Bob Rothstein, Mark Donatelli and John Bienvenu
will receive $2 million, while each of the 11 named plaintiffs in the lawsuit
will be paid $42,750. The remaining people who were strip searched between
Jan. 12, 2002 and December 2004, when the jail changed the strip-search
policy, will have 30 days from the time a U.S. District Court judge affirms
the agreement to file claims. Those people — estimated in settlement
documents to number about 13,000 — will receive between $1,000 and $3,500. On
Thursday, two of the named plaintiffs in the suit said while they were glad
the case was over, they were even happier to have had a hand in sparing other
citizens the embarrassment and humiliation they suffered. “That’s the best
thing,” said Elizabeth “Lisa” Leyba. “That’s the thing that makes the
emotional days all right.” Said Kristi Seibold, “It feels really good. It
feels like we accomplished something — something really good and worthwhile
for the people.” Leyba, 34, a bartender at Catamount Bar and Grille, was
arrested in September 2004 for selling a beer to an underage customer sent in
during a sting. Donatelli said a bouncer at the bar was supposed to be
checking identification at the door, and the check was not Leyba’s
responsibility. At the jail, Leyba said a female officer ordered her to strip
naked and spin in a circle, which she apparently did too fast, so the guard
ordered her to do it again, slower. She then had to stand in the room naked
while the officer searched for jail clothing for her, Leyba said. “It was one
of the last things I expected to have happen to me,” she said. “I was humiliated.
It still bothers me.” Leyba, who initially didn’t want to take part in the
lawsuit, said she was motivated to do so when she thought about her two young
nieces and how she might help spare them similar treatment. Seibold, 51, a
local massage therapist and mother of two teenagers, was strip searched twice
— once in January 2004 and again in December 2004. She was arrested for
refusing to surrender her dog to authorities and for an unpaid traffic
violation that turned out to have been paid. During one of the searches, the
female corrections officer ran her hands up and down Seibold’s arms and legs,
while the door to the room where she was being searched was left open a crack
so that anyone could have looked in, she said. Seibold also was told to bend
over during one of the searches, she said. “I felt so exposed,” Seibold said.
“I felt so violated in that they really took their time.” Bienvenu said
during his firm’s investigation of the situation, corrections officers told
him there was a peep hole in the door to the room where the searches were
conducted, and guards would sometimes line up for a look. Santa Fe County
Sheriff Greg Solano and Kerry Dixon, the MTC warden at the time, said the
searches were conducted to stem the flow of drugs and weapons into the jail.
On Thursday, Solano said he hadn’t heard of the peep-hole allegations. In a
news release, Harry Montoya, chairman of the county commissioners, said, “The
resolution of this matter helps to put behind us lingering missteps from the
privately run jail and allows the county to continue to move forward. We have
new procedures to insure that our current strip search policies are
constitutional.” Those policies call for strip searches only when an inmate
is accused of violence, drug or weapons-related crimes. A statement from MTC
was not available Thursday. Donatelli said the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals
made it clear in 1993 that blanket strip searches could not be conducted at
county jails based on Fourth Amendment assurances against illegal searches. Said
Bienvenu: “I believe it was a deliberate policy to ignore the law.” Rothstein
said the case marks the first class-action settlement on strip searches in
New Mexico, though his firm is handling three such pending cases in the
state.

October 13, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
Bill Blank's looming presence couldn't be ignored in the back of the crowd
gathered outside the Santa Fe County Adult Detention Center on Wednesday
morning. With a large, imposing frame and a drooping mustache, Blank listened
quietly to speeches from a who's who of county officials: County Manager
Gerald González, Sheriff Greg Solano and Commission Chairman Mike Anaya were
among those who spoke before a representative from Management and Training
Corp., the private company that has been managing the jail since 2001, handed
over ceremonial keys to the facility to county officials.

October 10, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
Santa Fe County's quest to turn around the historically troubled Santa Fe
County Adult Detention Facility is about to start its greatest test.
Management of the 668-bed jail officially changes hands on Tuesday from
Management and Training Corporation, which has been running the jail since
2001, to Santa Fe County. The county inherits a facility that has faced
rising costs, lawsuits, unflattering audits and incidents of rape and
suicide. County commissioners and Sheriff Greg Solano, along with Corrections
Department director Greg Parrish, have repeatedly expressed optimism that the
county can do a better job than the private management companies that have
run the jail previously. Of the 148 MTC employees, Santa Fe County hired 123
to continue working under county management. Some were food service and
medical contractors tied to MTC. Six quit, and eight failed county background
investigations. There are still 32 vacancies out of the county's 208-staff
total to be filled.

September 28, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
Santa Fe County Manager Gerald González was given "emergency"
powers as the County Commission on Tuesday approved a number of housekeeping
measures in advance county government's takeover of jail operations next
month from Management and Training Corp. According to a resolution passed
unanimously by the commission, González will be able to approve contracts for
goods and services worth up to $100,000 (the previous limit was $20,000),
approve any contract that has resulted from competitive bids or state price
agreements, hire staff without commission approval, and execute any agreement
not involving expenditure of county money. The measure was necessary for
county staff to finish everything that needs doing at the county jail,
according to Deputy County Manager Roman Abeyta, as Tuesday's meeting was the
last time for the commission to approve contracts before the Oct. 11 handover
of jail management from the private operator. Also at Tuesday's meeting, a
$200,000 contract with Correct Rx Pharmacy Services to provide
pharmaceuticals at the jail and a $68,587 contract with Inmate Transfer
Services were also approved. In addition, Neves Uniforms and Kaufmans West
were approved to provide correctional staff uniforms.

September 26, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
Santa Fe County officials estimate they will lose $5.9 million running the
adult jail next year. The year after, the projected loss is $6.4 million. But
the rising deficits, which the county has already been absorbing for years,
will be only part of the burden as county officials take over management of
the 668-capacity facility Oct. 11 from Management and Training Corporation,
the Utah-based private contractor that has been running the jail since 2001.
County Manager Gerald Gonzales has an eye toward the added bureaucracy that
will be required to run what will become Santa Fe County's largest
department: corrections. Virtually none of the news coming out the county's
adult detention facility over the past years has been good. Rising costs,
lawsuits, unflattering audits, and incidents of rape and suicide have plagued
the jail. When MTC decided it would withdraw from managing the jail earlier this
year, the county had trouble finding another private contractor who wanted
the job, county officials said. So the County Commission decided it was time
to take on the responsibility— or the burden, as some call it— of running the
jail itself. Sullivan blamed the problem on a handful of businessmen who
convinced the county to build a jail bigger than what was needed. The current
facility was completed in 1998 to expectations on the part of the County
Commission that housing prisoners would bring in revenue. "Somebody said
to the county, 'If you build it, they will come. If you build a massive
facility, the prisoners will come, and we will all make money,' '' Solano
said. Now, a completely new set of commissioners and staff are dealing with a
reality that is quite the opposite from those expectations. "The days of
big profits from jails are gone, especially in Santa Fe," Solano said.
Under state statute, the county is obligated to provide for the incarceration
of county prisoners. According to county officials, only 272 of the 578
inmates currently in the facility are the responsibility of Santa Fe County
to incarcerate. Solano, at least, doesn't see a whole lot of change coming
from the Oct. 11 handover. He said running the jail has been an integral part
of his job as county sheriff since he started the job in 2002, despite its
being under private management that whole time. "I get named in all the
lawsuits at the jail," he said. "We already deal with it to such a
large extent that I think it's better we just have
complete control over it anyway, because we're the ones that have to answer
for it. Private companies aren't responsible to the public. We are."

August 25, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
A Santa Fe County jail inmate was found dead Wednesday afternoon hanging by a
light fixture in the medical ward after an apparent suicide, according to the
Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department. Michael Martinez, 39, of Chimayó, was
in a medical ward at the jail at the time due to sores on his arms believed
to be from drug injections, as well as for drug and alcohol withdrawal,
Solano said. Solano said corrections officers at the jail were checking on
Martinez in the medical ward every 30 minutes Wednesday. Earlier this year, a
civil lawsuit was filed against the jail by the family of an inmate who
committed suicide there March 17, 2004. The lawsuit was filed by the family
of Juan Ignacio-Sanchez, 22, who was in jail on a murder charge and hanged
himself with his own shoelaces in his cell, according to the suit. The suit alleges
that the jail's suicide-prevention policies were "seriously
deficient" and that Ignacio-Sanchez was not placed on a suicide watch
upon his admission to the jail, despite a phone call from his mother, who
told officials that she thought her son was suicidal.

June 23, 2005 Albuquerque Journal
About a year before homicide suspect Juan Ignacio-Sanchez hung himself with
his own shoelaces in a cell at the Santa Fe County jail,
the U.S. Department of Justice issued a report stating that the jail's
suicide prevention policies were "seriously deficient."That's just one of the allegations in a
civil lawsuit against the jail filed Wednesday in Santa Fe District Court by
attorney Robert Rothstein, on behalf of Ignacio-Sanchez's father. Among
the lawsuit's claims are that Ignacio-Sanchez was not placed on a suicide
watch upon his admission to the jail despite a phone call to the jail from
his mother, who said she thought he was suicidal.When a corrections officer asked her why
she thought her son was suicidal, she answered "that Ignacio-Sanchez had
been crying uncontrollably the night that he was arrested, was very
depressed, tired and confused; and he had told the police that he was going
to kill himself if he did not get help," according to the lawsuit.Also according to court
documents: On the day of
Ignacio-Sanchez's suicide at the jail, a corrections officer took
Ignacio-Sanchez's shoes, but he was allowed to keep his shoelaces.
"There was absolutely no valid correctional justification for allowing
Ignacio-Sanchez to retain the shoelaces— particularly without the
shoes," court documents said. The lawsuit alleges that jail staff
members are responsible for maintaining a "constant awareness of the
activities of inmates they (come) into contact with" as part of the
MTC-developed "Suicide/Self-Injury Guidelines and Procedures" at
the jail.The procedures include
maintaining a continuous watch on inmates who are under a suicide watch and
removing dangerous articles or clothing that are found in those inmates' cells,
according to the suit.

May 20, 2005 AP
The Santa Fe County Commission has decided to take over operation of its own
jail this fall when a private company that now manages the facility pulls out.
Management and Training Corp. announced last month that it would end its
contract early because operating the jail was not profitable. The company
said it couldn't keep a medical-service provider there and lost money trying
to comply with new federal mandates. The Utah-based company is expected to
end the arrangement on or before Oct. 11. Santa Fe County officials view the
change as an opportunity to improve the facility. "We don't feel the
contractor has done what needs to be done," Assistant County Attorney
Grace Phillips told the commission Thursday before it approved a tentative
plan to take over the jail. Gregory Parrish, director of the county
corrections department, said the county could improve the jail's tarnished
public image and provide better medical care than the private company.
Government operation also could lead to cooperation with the state and other
public bodies that could help improve medical services and keep the jail at
capacity. Because the private contractor is focused on the bottom line,
Parrish said, "sometimes their operations reflect that." The
company repeatedly fails to handle detailed tasks such as booking and billing
and simpler responsibilities such as answering phones, he said.

May 20, 2005 AP
Santa Fe County will begin running the county's jail this fall. The County
Commission decided yesterday to take over the jail operations. Management and
Training Corporation said last month that it will prematurely end its two
year-contract to run the jail. The company says it will pull out on or before
October Eleventh. The company has said it cannot afford to continue managing
the lockup. The company is being paid $42 a day per prisoner. County
officials say they can run the jail for about the same cost, and they believe
they can do it better. Management and Training corporation has run the jail
since 2001.

May 19, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
The family of a Santa Fe County jail inmate who died in February of an
apparent heroin overdose claims the drug was supplied by a guard. The family
of Christopher Roybal has filed a tort claim notice informing Santa Fe County
and the privately run Santa Fe County Adult Detention Center that they intend
to sue over his death. Attorney Mark Donatelli maintains in the notice that
the inmate got his drugs from former jail guard Amos Romero, 43, of Mora, who
is himself now an inmate at the jail. Romero has been charged with twice
taking money from an undercover cop in April in exchange for delivering what
he thought was cocaine into the jail. The substance was actually a mixture
containing baking soda and coffee creamer. He faces two counts of conspiracy
to traffic cocaine. Management and Training Corp., the Utah-based private
operator of the jail, announced recently that it cannot operate the jail profitably
and that it plans to bail out of its contract to run the lockup later this
year. The tort claim notice asserts that, "Our preliminary investigation
leads us to conclude that the death of Mr. Roybal was the direct and
proximate result of the conduct of employees, officials and operators of the
Santa Fe County Adult Detention Center."

May 14, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
A man who was incarcerated at the Santa Fe County jail earlier this week is
raising questions about whether another inmate who died at the jail was
refused medication before his apparent heart attack. Jaime Escobar, 28, who
was charged recently on a domestic violence petition, according to court
records, said Friday that he witnessed the death of William Garrett, 62, in
the jail. Garrett died of apparent cardiac arrest Tuesday morning. Escobar,
interviewed Friday, said he was repeatedly denied his diabetes medication
while in the jail and that after Garrett suffered his cardiac arrest, other
inmates in the jail told him that Garrett had also been denied medication.
Escobar also claimed that it took jail personnel about 15 minutes to respond
after inmates called for help for Garrett.

April 20, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
The second private company to try and run the Santa Fe County jail at a
profit -- and at the same time in compliance with the law -- is giving up on
the task. Management and Training Corp. announced late last week that it will
quit managing the jail when its contract is up in the fall -- and would
prefer to quit sooner, if the county will allow. County Sheriff Greg Solano
says it's time the county took over operations of the jail. He's absolutely
right -- the jail has been plagued by ongoing and serious security,
sanitation and other problems under both recent private management companies.
Two years ago, the federal government pulled prisoners out of the facility,
claiming county officials were indifferent to prisoner medical and mental
health needs. The pullout reduced the potential profit for the management
company -- federal and other prisoners are housed for fees about 30 percent
higher than what the county pays to house its local prisoners at the jail.
Under MTC's management, the jail won accreditation from the American
Correctional Association. But a murder -- the first ever at the facility --
followed a few months later. Critics of the fad for jail and prison
privatization were busy saying, "We told you so" after MTC made its
announcement last week. In hindsight, they seem to have been right on two
important points: The jail is far too big for local needs, and the resulting
profit squeeze has translated, consistently, into understaffing and
managerial laxity on the part of the private contractors. A year ago, the
county passed an eighth-of-a-cent gross receipts tax increase to finance
increased spending on jail operations. In response to the numerous
longstanding problems, the county also put in place a citizens
advisory committee to monitor conditions there. Also a year ago, the county
took over management of the juvenile jail facility and appears to have done a
competent job there. With a funding stream and responsible oversight in
place, the county is as well positioned as anybody to take over running the
jail. It should do so without delay.

April 20, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
Twice in the past month, a Santa Fe County jail guard took money from an
undercover officer in exchange for bringing what he thought was cocaine to an
inmate at the jail, court records state. Amos Romero, 43, of the Antimo
Trailer Park in Mora, resigned from his job as a corrections officer at the
jail immediately after his April 17 arrest, according to Santa Fe County jail
deputy warden David Osuna. Management and Training Corp., the Utah-based
private operator of the jail, recently announced that it cannot operate the
jail profitably and told the county it is bailing out of its contract to run
the lockup. Illegal drugs
finding their way into the jail is just one of a number of problems that have
beset the privately run jail in recent years.

April 16, 2005 New Mexican
Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano's push for the county to take over
operation of the jail from a private company received solid support Friday
from members of the law-enforcement community, who all agreed that operating
a jail should be a governmental function. However, some expressed concerns
that a transition could be bumpy, and others cautioned that a county-run jail
is unlikely to be a cure-all for all the problems. "I agreed with
Sheriff Solano that we've got to stop thinking of the jail as a
profit-maker," said state District Judge Michael Vigil. "I don't
think government should be contracting out something as serious as our
obligation to incarcerate people." "Three different private
entities have run it now and it has not worked out," he said.
"Probably because the bottom line for the companies is profit."
Fellow District Judge Stephen Pfeffer -- who, like Vigil, handles criminal
cases almost exclusively -- agreed. "Businesses are in business for
profit," he said. "Government has to stay within a budget, but I
think it's a different focus." Santa Fe County first contracted out the
running of its jail in 1986, when the facility was located on Airport Road,
to Corrections Corporation of America. After CCA decided not to pursue the contract
for the newly built, much-larger jail in 1997, the contract was awarded to
Cornell Corrections Inc. The current contractor -- Management Training
Corporation -- has run the facility since 2001. MTC announced Thursday it was
pulling out of its contract -- set to run until August 2006 -- because of
problems providing adequate medical services. Those medical services were
provided by yet another contractor -- Correct Care Solutions. Solano said
he'd like to see a local medical-care provider, such as St. Vincent Regional
Medical Center or Presbyterian Medical Services contract with the county to
provide care at the jail.

April 15, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
Management and Training Corp., saying it can't operate the Santa Fe County
jail profitably, has given notice to county officials that it's bailing out
of its contract to run the lockup. Utah-based MTC said it wasn't getting a
sufficient number of inmates at the jail and the county wasn't paying the
company enough to cover costs. "Low inmate occupancy numbers and the
costs of additional operating requirements have made it impossible for MTC to
continue to manage the facility," said Al Murphy, an MTC vice president.
County Sheriff Greg Solano said now it's time for the county to take over
jail operations rather than relying on a contractor. "We have to give up
the idea of the jail as a profit center," Solano said. Solano also wants
local health care providers to partner with the county to provide medical
services for prisoners, which the sheriff said is one of the most difficult
issues at the jail. MTC took over operation of the jail from Cornell
Companies of Texas in 2001. The contract was renewed last fall, but MTC
spokesman Carl Stuart said the company can opt out annually. MTC is willing
to run the jail for another six months to fulfill the contract but also would
leave earlier if the county wants, Stuart said. Stuart said MTC expected to
have an average of 600 inmates at the jail— which can hold at least 650
prisoners— but that the prisoner population has been running at an average of
540 in recent months. Santa Fe County's own prisoners average about 300
or 320 a day, Solano said. MTC has "had problems getting inmates from
other areas to make a profit," he said. Santa Fe attorney Mark
Donatelli, who recently filed a lawsuit over the jail's former policy of
strip-searching all inmates, said he and others warned county officials years ago that the jail was too large "and
would become an economic albatross." "And that's what it turned out
to be," Donatelli said. County Manager Gerald González said MTC's
announcement was not a shock. This week, Correct Care Solutions, the current
medical provider at the jail, notified MTC it planned to pull out because it
cannot meet medical requirements under the present reimbursement allowance.
"We knew they were having difficulty with medical, so from that
standpoint it was not a complete surprise," González said. Donatelli
said one problem with hiring private companies to run jails or prisons is
that public agencies like the county lose corrections expertise and it can be
difficult to resume public management. Solano said county management would
help retain jail employees because of better benefits, including the
retirement plan available through New Mexico's public employee system. He
noted that the county took over operations at the juvenile jail about a year
ago. MTC said one of its accomplishments was winning American Correctional
Association accreditation for the jail last year. But an inmate was killed in
an alleged beating by other inmates in June, apparently the first-ever
slaying at the county jail.

April 14, 2005 AP
The company managing the Santa Fe County Jail announced Thursday it will end
its two-year contract early. Executives for Management & Training
Corporation said they cannot afford to continue managing the facility at the
rate of $42 per day per inmate, considering the 650-bed jail houses only an
average of 450 inmates. They said the contract is not profitable and they
will end the agreement in six months. Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg L. Solano
said Thursday the company's early departure was disappointing because it had
just started just six months ago. However, the change could be an opportunity
for the county to take over the jail, which has a $9.6 million budget.
"We need to take control of this facility and put its destiny into our
own hands," Solano said. The U.S. Justice Department, which monitors the
jail's management, released a report in March 2003 alleging that county
officials were indifferent to prisoners' medical and mental health needs. The
county denied the allegations, but made changes to its program. Solano said
he believes local medical providers would serve the jail better than
out-of-state contractors. "We ought to get out of the business of running
a jail for profit and just try to operate the best jail," Solano said.

April 6, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
A woman formerly employed at the Santa Fe County jail showed up in court
drunk Monday to testify whether a female inmate was being denied emergency medical
treatment for a life-threatening illness. Santa Fe public defender
Damien Horne said that Rose Bell-Engle, 48, a former health services
administrator for the county jail, first lied to Santa Fe District Judge
Michael Vigil about whether she had drunk any alcohol.But then Bell-Engle blew a 0.09 blood
alcohol level on two Breathalyzer tests administered to her at the court,
according to Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano. The legal limit for driving
while intoxicated in New Mexico is a 0.08 blood alcohol level. Solano said
Tuesday that Bell-Engle had resigned from her job at the jail before Monday's
hearing. She was employed at the jail by Correct Care Solutions, the
subcontractor for medical services hired by the jail's private manager, the
Utah-based Management & Training Co.

February 26, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
A Santa Fe County Sheriff's corporal said in court Friday that a 23-year-old
man has admitted to using heroin at the Santa Fe County jail on the same date
that his best friend, also an inmate at the jail, died of what authorities
have said is a possible heroin overdose. Rocky Romero, 23, was in court
Friday to face sentencing on charges of leading Santa Fe County sheriff's
deputies on two vehicle chases last year.
During Romero's sentencing, Santa Fe County Sheriff's Cpl. Vanessa Pacheco
told Santa Fe District Judge Stephen Pfeffer that Romero has admitted to
using heroin on Feb. 17 and at other times during the week of Feb. 14 to Feb.
18. Romero's best friend, Chris Roybal, 37, who was staying in the same
dormitory pod as Romero the week ending Feb. 18, was found dead in his cell
on Feb. 18. Roybal's death is being investigated as a possible heroin
overdose, according to Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano. According to a
news release from the sheriff's department, inmates at the jail have told
investigators that Roybal was using heroin on Feb. 17 before he was found
dead on Feb. 18. During the investigation, a syringe was found behind a
hollowed-out brick wall in the dormitory where Roybal was being held,
according to the sheriff's department. Solano has called Roybal's death
a "suspected overdose" and added that Roybal showed no outward
signs of trauma that could have contributed to his death.

February 24, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
Two men who potentially face the death penalty if found guilty of killing a
fellow inmate at the Santa Fe County jail last year were unusually loquacious
during a court hearing Wednesday. Prosecutors called for the hearing before
First Judicial District Judge Tim Garcia because they believe that court
documents made available to the two defendants have been disseminated to a
wider audience and could be used to "threaten the lives of witnesses
and/or defendants," according to the motion. But defendant Jesus
Aviles-Dominguez, who is charged in connection with the June 4 beating death
of fellow Santa Fe County jail inmate Dickie Ortega, denied any such
activity. He told a reporter, "We don't have no
fax machines in our pods." Good said that at the time of Ortega's death,
he was three days away from being released from jail. Good is now being
housed at the state penitentiary. Good said that his treatment at the prison
is better than it was at the Santa Fe County jail. When pressed for details
about the case, Good became tight lipped. "No comment, not guilty, see
you at trial," Good said.

February 19, 2005 Albuquerque Journal
A Santa Fe County jail inmate was found dead in his cell early Friday,
and fellow inmates are claiming the deceased man took heroin on Thursday,
according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department. Chris Roybal, 37, was
found dead just before 3 a.m. on Friday after a fellow inmate notified a
guard that Roybal "normally snores loudly and was too quiet and
something may be wrong with him," according to the sheriff's department.
On Friday, Roybal's former attorney, Sydney West, said Roybal had
"a long and documented heroin problem."

January 13, 2005 Albuquerque
Journal
Among the former Santa Fe County jail inmates who were forced to strip naked
under the jail's former blanket strip-search policy, according to a lawsuit
filed Wednesday, was 49-year-old Kristi Siebold. The crime that brought
Siebold to the jail? Refusal to give her dog to animal control, the civil
rights lawsuit states. Another defendant in attorney Mark Donatelli's class
action suit against the jail and its private management firm is David
Sandoval, a 39-year-old machinist at Los Alamos National Laboratory who
underwent two strip searches after being arrested on a charge of stealing a
casino gambling chip, a charge he was later cleared of. Another plaintiff is
a 45-year-old writer and film producer who had never been arrested before.
She was taken into custody in November when a bench warrant was erroneously
issued for her arrest on a charge of failing to appear for a court date, the
suit says. The woman was "taken to the jail where she was ordered to
strip completely naked, put her arms over her head and turn around for visual
inspection," according to Donatelli. "She was then required to lift
each of her breasts for additional visual inspection, to bend over and cough.
This woman also, while completely naked, was subjected to an officer placing
her hands on the woman's legs and genital area for a further physical
examination." Donatelli alleges that none of the plaintiffs named in his suit were
admitted to the jail for violent offenses, and none were found to be in
possession of any contraband after they were forced to strip nude. Donatelli
estimates that hundreds of people, presumed innocent after their arrests,
have likely had to endure the "horribly demeaning" experience of
having to strip naked.

January 6, 2004 Albuquerque
JournalA 31-year-old man who was arrested on prostitution charges on Cerrillos
Road New Year's Eve has alleged that he was raped by an unknown assailant
while in custody at the Santa Fe County jail early Sunday morning.

December 30, 2004 Albuquerque
JournalA civil rights attorney says he will file a class-action lawsuit on
behalf of all individuals who were forced to strip naked under the Santa Fe
County Jail's former policy of strip-searching anyone booked into the jail.
Santa Fe attorney Mark Donatelli's Wednesday announcement that he plans the
class-action litigation comes after the jail recently abandoned its policy of
strip-searching each and every inmate during booking. Donatelli contends that
it was unconstitutional for the jail to have a blanket policy of
strip-searching all inmates, arguing that individuals under arrest have a
right to privacy and are presumed innocent of their charges in the eyes of
the law. The jail's former practice of strip-searching every inmate during
booking first came to light in September, after the Journal reported that a
cocktail waitress at a Santa Fe bar was strip-searched following her arrest
on a charge of selling alcohol to a minor. During an interview after her arrest, Leyba said she was forced to
strip naked, "no socks, nothing," after her Sept. 4 arrest. The
search was performed by female corrections officers, Leyba said. In November,
Jamie Taylor, 22, of Santa Fe also came forward and reported that male
corrections officers ordered her to strip naked for a search after her June
arrest on a DWI charge. But Taylor said that after she protested, the male
corrections officers backed off and did not go through with the search. Donatelli
said there is potentially a large number of inmates and former inmates whose
rights were violated at the county jail when they were ordered to strip
naked.

December 14, 2004 Albuquerque
Journal
A woman who says she was raped by two inmates at the Santa Fe County jail
while she was incarcerated there earlier this year has notified the county
and the jail's private manager that she intends to sue for damages. Veronica
Sanchez has alleged that she was sexually assaulted at the Santa Fe County
jail in September. According to her tort claim notice, she "was raped by
at least two men after being trapped inside a cell containing approximately
eight to eleven male detainees." Sanchez's tort claim says after she was
raped, "she was then removed and placed, alone, in a different cell,
where she was left for about two hours before being transported to the
hospital for an examination, during which time the various personnel who were
responsible for her safety scrambled to concoct an explanation for her rape
which would leave them somehow blameless," reads the tort claim notice.
"Only after she became hysterical, curled up on the floor, and started
kicking at the door and screaming was she finally let out of the cell and
taken to the hospital by ambulance." After Sanchez was raped, the
detention officer who put her in the wrong cell, "immediately denied
putting her in that cell."A
medical officer at the jail also is quoted in Donatelli's tort claim as
saying that a detention officer approached him at the jail the night of the
rape, and told him that he "lost" Sanchez in the jail, and that
"he knew he should not have had male and female detainees out of booking
cells at the same time, but that his supervisor told him just to handle it on
his own."

November 23, 2004 AP
The American Correctional Association says the Santa Fe County jail violated
its standards by strip searching a waitress booked on a charge of serving
alcohol to minors. Waitress Lisa Leyba, who notified the county earlier this
month that she intends to sue, contends she was ordered to remove all her
clothes and turn around in front of a female guard. Some people who have been
strip searched at New Mexico jails have won settlements. For example, Diana
Archuleta, a supervisor at Las Vegas Medical Center, settled a case against
San Miguel County early this year for more than $80,000 after winning a
summary judgment, said her attorney, Shannon Oliver of Albuquerque. State
District Judge Jay Harris ruled the Las Vegas jail's policy of strip
searching everyone booked into the jail is unconstitutional. Phil Davis,
legal co-director for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, has
represented plaintiffs in several strip-search cases and has settled them all.
"The law is clear that you need some kind of suspicion to strip search
any inmate, particularly one brought in for a relatively minor offense,"
Davis said.

November 20, 2004 Albuquerque
Journal
A 36-year-old Santa Fe woman was mistakenly released from jail Thursday by
giving a detention officer a bond receipt from a prior arrest, according to a
report from the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department. The woman,
Connie Gonzales, was still at large Friday afternoon, and she will be
additionally charged with escape from jail.

November 18, 2004 Albuquerque
Journal
The Santa Fe County jail's practice of strip searching all inmates is
unconstitutional, according to a tort claim notice sent to the jail by an
attorney for a local cocktail waitress who says she was ordered to strip nude
after her September arrest for serving alcohol to a minor. Catamount Bar
& Grille cocktail waitress Lisa Leyba, 32, spent 14 hours at the jail
Sept. 4, charged with a fourth-degree felony after she sold beers to two
underage customers during an undercover sting operation by police.In a phone interview Wednesday, Leyba's
attorney, Mark Donatelli said, "It's hard to believe that in the middle
of purported jail improvements, the county starts forcing people to take
their clothes off in violation of the Constitution." "Specifically,
she was taken to a room and ordered to disrobe," reads Donatelli's tort
claim. "Ms. Leyba removed her clothes and stood in the middle of the
room in her undergarments and socks. She was then told that this was insufficient
and was ordered to take off all her undergarments and socks and to rotate so
that the officer could observe her entire body." Santa Fe County jail
warden Kerry Dixon, who works for the jail's private manager, the Utah-based
Management & Training Co., could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
During a brief phone conversation Wednesday, Dixon said he wanted to first
speak with an attorney before commenting, but he did not call back and
subsequently could not be reached for comment. "We have since learned
that what happened to Ms. Leyba was caused by a recently implemented policy
of conducting strip searches of all incoming pre-trial detainees," reads
Donatelli's tort claim notice. "As I am sure you know,
this categorical and indiscriminate practice expressly violates the 4th and
14th amendments to the United States Constitution as well as the New Mexico
Constitution." Another young woman who was interviewed Wednesday, Jamie
Taylor, 22, said that a male corrections officer ordered her to strip after
her June arrest on a driving while intoxicated charge. Taylor said the
corrections officer claimed the female guards were busy, "so he had to
do it." Taylor said that when she stood up for herself, the corrections
officer backed off."The male guy
tried to make me strip in front of him," Taylor said. "I told him I
know my rights, and that if he tried to make me strip I would immediately
look into filing a lawsuit."Leyba's tort claim notice claims that the jail's policy of conducting
strip searches of all pre-trial detainees "was caused in part by the
joint decision of county officials and MTC to bring in an administration
headed by a warden whose only corrections experience was in operating prisons
housing convicted felons and not a jail housing pre-trial detainees who are
presumed innocent of any crimes."

October 29, 2004 Albuquerque
Journal
A Santa Fe man accuses a Santa Fe County sheriff's deputy of mistaking a
preexisting brain injury for intoxication and arresting him for drunken
driving after a 2002 traffic crash, according to a civil lawsuit filed
Wednesday. The suit states that Lawrence Martinez was involved in an Oct. 28,
2002, crash with another vehicle while he was headed west on Las Estrellas
Road. It also states that county jail guards beat and kicked Martinez. The
jail's private manager, the Utah-based Management & Training Corp., also
is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

October 28, 2004 Albuquerque
Journal
The U.S. Department of Justice won't sue Santa Fe County, as long as it
adheres to a 30-page memorandum of understanding that has taken more than a
year to negotiate over management of the county jail. The agreement outlines
policies and protocols covering a range of issues from health care and
suicide prevention to security and staff training. Santa Fe
County commissioners approved the document Tuesday, but the federal
government has yet to sign off on it.
The jail has been under Justice Department scrutiny for some time. In March
2003, the federal agency released a scathing report charging that the county
was deliberately indifferent to the inmates' medical and mental health needs
and suffered harm or risk from the detention center's suicide prevention,
fire safety and sanitation systems. Federal inmates were
subsequently pulled from the facility.
The jail has had other problems recently as well. Earlier this month, a woman
alleged she was raped by another inmate in an area of booking where no
security cameras were in place. And a 32-year-old prisoner was beaten to
death by other inmates in June. The death occurred in a
section of the jail the Justice Department identified as being understaffed
two years ago. However, when the county
renegotiated its contract with jail operator Management and Training Corp. on
Oct. 1, the new contract reflected many of the Department of Justice's
recommendations. As a result, the cost of operating the jail will increase
this year by nearly $1.5 million, county finance director Susan Lucero said.

October 6, 2004 Albuquerque
Journal
An attorney for a woman who claims she was raped by a fellow inmate at the
Santa Fe County jail last week says the sheriff's department has a conflict
of interest in investigating the case. The Santa Fe County Sheriff's
Department should not be investigating the rape report because the sheriff
will be named in a resulting civil lawsuit, her attorney Mark Donatelli said
Tuesday. The sheriff will be named in the suit because as the county's agent,
he is ultimately responsible for what goes on at the privately run county
jail, Donatelli said. Donatelli said he intends to file suit against Solano,
the county and the jail's private manager, the Utah-based Management and
Training Corp.

October 1, 2004 Albuquerque
Journal
Officials at the Santa Fe County jail should never have allowed a female
inmate to have contact with a male inmate during an incident Tuesday night
when she alleges she was raped in a booking area, her attorney said. Female and
male inmates are, at least theoretically, "not allowed to mix" at
the jail, said attorney Mark Donatelli. "How hard is it to have physical
separation at the jail?" Donatelli asked. There are two main problems at
the jail, Donatelli said— a lack of staffing and a lack of money to commit to
hire and retain quality personnel.
During an incident in 2001, guards allowed a female inmate into her inmate
boyfriend's cell so they could have sex. This happened under the jail's
former private manager, Cornell Corrections.And in March, former inmate Juanita Martinez alleged in a lawsuit that
she became pregnant in 2001 after she was raped at the jail by a guard and
other inmates. Both Cornell Corrections and MTC are named as plaintiffs in
that lawsuit.

September 30, 2004 Santa Fe New
MexicanA 44-year-old woman claims she was raped in the booking area of the
Santa Fe County jail Tuesday night after guards left her alone with male
inmates, Sheriff Greg Solano said. Both Solano and jail Warden Kerry Dixon
refused to say exactly what happened. The
booking area has two sections -- one where prisoners are initially brought
and a second where holding cells are located, Solano said.The alleged attack took place in the second
section, where a corrections officer should always be on duty, Dixon said.
"However, last night we did not (have anyone on duty)," he said.
"It initially appears to me that we had some procedural errors."
"I'm extremely concerned and embarrassed," said Dixon, who was
hired as warden seven months ago. "Everything I've worked to do here is
going to go right down the drain because of incidents like this."

September 30, 2004 Albuquerque
Journal
A female inmate at the Santa Fe County jail has alleged that a male inmate
raped her in the facility's booking area Tuesday night, according to the
Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department. The alleged rape occurred in
the jail's booking area between 9:44 and 11 p.m. Tuesday.

August 31, 2004
A lawyer has sent a letter warning Santa Fe County and the private company
that runs its jail to expect a lawsuit from the family of a man beaten to
death in the facility earlier this summer. Dickie Ortega’s death in the Santa
Fe County Adult Detention Center resulted from a lack of adequate staffing,
lack of inmate supervision, lack of video monitoring of some jail areas,
inadequate policies regarding inmate classification and problems with hiring , training and supervision of corrections officers,
Santa Fe attorney Bob Rothstein wrote in a Friday letter. (Santa Fe New
Mexican)

August 26, 2004
The Santa Fe District Attorney's Office is seeking the death penalty against
two county jail inmates who are accused of beating a fellow inmate to
death. The inmate was slain on June 6 because they thought he was an
informant, according to court records. Attorney Mark Donatelli has said
he plans on filing a civil lawsuit against the jail's private manager, the
Utah-based Management and Training Corp., and Santa Fe County, for negligence
in connection with Dickie Ortega's death. On Wednesday, Santa Fe County
Sheriff Greg Solano, who oversees the jail, said that staffing is being increased
at the jail. (ABQ Journal)

August 11, 2004
Escalating costs at the Santa Fe County jail are likely to consume new
revenue from a gross receipts tax hike approved by county commissioners last
month in just 21/2 to four years, commissioners determined Tuesday.
"Well, that's really depressing," said County Commissioner Jack
Sullivan, who crunched some numbers during the commission meeting. If
the county inmate population continues growing, and the number of inmates
coming from the state Corrections Department shrinks, the county will see
recurring increases of more than $1 million each year to pay its private
operator, Management and Training Corp. (ABQ Journal)

July 28, 2004
The Santa Fe County Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved a tax hike to
help fund operations at the county jail. The one-eighth percent
increase in the gross receipts tax will mean an additional 12.5 cents on a
$100 purchase in Santa Fe County. The new tax rate will go into effect Jan.
1, 2005, unless voters petition the county to hold a referendum on the
increase. County officials estimate the tax hike will generate an
additional $4 million a year, which would be earmarked for the county's
correctional facilities. The county contracts with a private company,
Utah-based Management and Training Corp., to run the adult jail. The
adult jail has been the subject of state and federal audits harshly
criticizing medical care and security at the facility. Also under the
new proposal, the county will increase the amount of money it pays per
prisoner. The new per diem rate, currently $41 per prisoner per day, will
increase to $42. There are nearly 600 inmates currently at the jail.
About 400 of those are county inmates, and the remainder
are prisoners housed under contract with other agencies. (ABQ
Journal)

June 28, 2004
As "tough negotiations" with Santa Fe County's private jail
contractor grind on, some county officials are revisiting the notion that the
county itself should resume jail operations. County Commissioner Paul
Duran thinks the county would do a better job running the jail now.
"I have always thought that the county should take it over," Duran
said. Duran expressed similar thoughts last year when the county's
Corrections Advisory Committee issued its annual report. It concluded that
Utah-based MTC-- a for-profit company-- was not providing enough medical
staffing or case managers to deal with inmates needs. This year's
report, while noting some progress, raised the same concerns. "I
think it's the profit element that is the root of all
these problems," Duran said in a recent interview. The jail's
troubles have been well-documented in recent years, with state and federal
audits slamming the facility for inadequate medical services and security
procedures. MTC currently subcontracts another company, Physicians
Network Association, to provide health care services at the jail. PNA will
not return if and when the county and MTC reach a new agreement, jail
administrators have said. (ABQ Journal)

June 26, 2004
The Santa Fe County jail is making changes following an incident earlier this
month that left one inmate dead. The jail, run by Management and Training
Corp., has changed rules for prisoners. Among them, inmates are not
allowed in their neighbor's cell at any time and rules governing when inmates
can enter and exit cells in three of the jail's four housing units have
changed, Deputy Warden David Osuna said. On June 6, four inmates in the
jail's highest-security housing pod allegedly dragged two other inmates from
a recreational area into a cell and severely beat them. Dickie M. Ortega, 32,
of Chimayo died at a Santa Fe hospital after suffering head and facial
injuries and a crushed larynx. His cousin, 29-year-old Brad Ortega, was
injured. Four inmates were charged with murder and aggravated battery.
They are Daniel Good, 31, Jesus Aviles-Dominguez, 28, Joe Corriz, 36, all of
Santa Fe, and Lawrence Gallegos, 25. There was no hometown listed for
Gallegos. Aviles-Dominguez also was charged with tampering with
evidence. Along with rule changes at the jail, Management and Training
Corp. said it has added two supervising corrections officers to each day
shift. (ABQ Journal)

June 12, 2004
The Santa Fe County jail pod where an inmate was killed on June 4 was staffed
with a requisite number of guards-- the same number that was sufficient to
win accreditation from the American Correctional Association after a February
inspection, according to the county sheriff. Attorney Mark Donatelli,
whose law firm is representing Ortega's family in a pending civil lawsuit,
said Friday that inadequate staffing and supervision of inmates could have
contributed to Ortega's fatal beating. Donatelli also said that ACA
accreditation is "like have having a sticker on a used car that says it
runs good; that's about it." A 2002 Department of Justice report
identified nine incidents of violence at the jail that can be attributed to a
lack of supervision, Donatelli said. (ABQ Journal)

January 25, 2004Fumes from fresh paint and floor wax overpowered
the smell of cigarette smoke inside the Santa Fe County jail this weekend as
inmate work crews prepared for inspection. A team of auditors will be
at the jail Monday to check for compliance with corrections-industry
standards. But it could be several months before the private jail operator,
Management and Training Corp., learns if the facility has passed
muster. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

November 19, 2003Guards at the Santa Fe County jail say they found
an inmate with black-tar heroin inside the jail Monday afternoon.
Albert Ponce, 28, who is from southern New Mexico, has been charged with
possession of a controlled substance, according to undersheriff Robert
Garcia. Police reports indicate a guard at the jail saw Ponce and
another inmate walk out of a janitor's closet at the jail Monday afternoon.
Another guard reportedly patted both inmates down and found a small sheet of
folded paper with the heroin inside it taped to Ponce's body under his
jail-issue clothing. It was too early to know how the heroin found its
way into the jail, Garcia said, but drugs inside the facility are not
uncommon. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

November 15, 2003Nine months after the U.S. Department of Justice
found health-care deficiencies at Santa Fe County's jail, problems
remain. The department still won't allow the jail to house federal
prisoners, whose removal earlier this year cut off a source of revenue for
the 682-bed adult-detention center south of the city. Officials say
solving the jail's medical-care problems will likely call for a greater
investment from the county government, which already has felt a drag on its
budget, and more cooperation from community health-care providers. The
company that provides health services is not performing routine exams for prisoners
locked up in the county-owned, privately-operated jail, and in many cases,
inmates are being cared for by emergency medical technicians, who have less
training than nurses, officials say. Inmates have complained about
medical care more than any other issue since the Justice Department found
problems in the jail's medical-screening and treatment procedures. "The
question I have to ask myself is 'Are the inmates getting adequate care?' " said Stephen Spencer, a member of a county
committee charged with inspecting jail operations. Physicians Network
Associates, hired to provide medical services at the jail, says there are
major hurdles to the kind of care the county wants at the facility.
Some of the difficulties reflect the area's health problems in general: Among
the most burdensome is stabilizing substance abusers held at the jail for
lack of a more appropriate treatment area. Physicians Network, which
subcontracts with jail operator Management and Training Corp., has medical
wards within prisons and jails in Texas, Arizona, Florida and New Mexico. But
company vice president Jean Brock says the Santa Fe jail is its worst and
most complex site. Physicians Network admits staff turnover has been a
problem in the unit, but president Vernon Farthing said he can't keep help at
the jail despite offering an hourly wage that is $7 to $10 more than he pays
equally qualified nurses in a Lubbock jail. Santa Fe County officials
have been talking about improving the jail since 2001, when the federal Justice
Department first announced it was launching an investigation of civil-right
violations there. Even though the agency likely got involved because of
problems with the former operator, Cornell Companies, by the time it audited
the jail a year later, MTC was in charge. Another year passed before
the Justice Department issued its March report calling for millions of
dollars in security, medical and staff investments. Soon, the
department is expected to file a lawsuit alleging civil-rights violations and
a settlement agreement that will dismiss accusations and spell out how the
county will ensure proper inmate care. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

September 6, 2003
Two years ago, two former guards at the Santa Fe County jail placed a handcuffed
Tony Sanchez in now-convicted killer Ivan Lara-Sanchez's cell. The
guards placed the two in a cell together despite their knowledge that they
were enemies, according to a lawsuit filed by Sanchez on Wednesday.
"Lara-Sanchez immediately attacked and brutally beat Tony Sanchez,
inflicting serious, permanent injuries," reads the suit. The two former
guards who placed Sanchez in Lara-Sanchez's cell knew that Sanchez's jail
classification form listed Lara-Sanchez as Sanchez's "sworn enemy,"
according to the suit. Attorney Mark Donatelli, who represents Sanchez,
said Friday that, before the Sept. 6, 2001, beating, a rumor had already
spread around the jail that Sanchez had informed on Lara-Sanchez. At
the time, Lara-Sanchez was in jail awaiting trial for the strangling and
beheading of Kathleen "Kat" Lopez in her Don Diego home.
Police had arrested Lara-Sanchez after getting a tip on his whereabouts from
a confidential informant, according to police. Lara-Sanchez was later
convicted of Lopez's murder and is serving a life sentence. The purpose
of the classification form signed by Sanchez when he was admitted to the jail
"was to alert all employees that Lara-Sanchez posed a threat to Tony
Sanchez and that they should be separated at all times," reads the
suit. The former jail operator, Cornell Corrections, is listed as a
defendant in the suit, in addition to the two guards. Santa Fe County is also
listed as a defendant. Donatelli said Sanchez was placed in
Lara-Sanchez's cell after Sanchez had a disagreement with former guard
Dominic Baca over where Sanchez should be placed. Baca is no longer employed
at the Santa Fe County jail, according to a jail official. "Tony
said Dominic Baca did it intentionally," Donatelli said. As a result of
his beating, Sanchez suffered "lacerations to his eye and face, injuries
to his head, neck, upper back, lower back, hand and wrist, and was found to
be in 'severe' pain," the lawsuit states. Sanchez continues to
suffer from the injuries, including a herniated lumbar disc, leg and back
pain, vision problems and headaches, according to the suit. Baca could
not be reached for comment Friday. A spokesman for Cornell Corrections
could not confirm whether Baca was still employed by Cornell. Cornell
spokesman Paul Doucette said he does not believe an inmate would be placed
into a cell with another inmate while one was in handcuffs. "As a
matter of policy, that would just never happen," Doucette said.
The Utah-based Management and Training Corp. took over operations at the
privately run jail in October 2001, after Santa Fe County decided not to
renew its contract with Cornell. Under Cornell, the facility experienced a
series of problems, including a death by heroin overdose, a minor disturbance
among inmates, and lawsuits alleging that male and female inmates were
allowed to intermingle and that a jail employee sexually abused an
inmate. Donatelli said that, as far as he knows, Baca was not
disciplined for placing Sanchez in Lara-Sanchez's cell. At the time of
the attack, Sanchez was in jail on a probation violation, Donatelli
said. In February 2002, Lara-Sanchez attacked Sanchez in Santa Fe
District Judge Stephen Pfeffer's courtroom, spitting at Sanchez before he was
restrained by Santa Fe police detectives who had escorted him to court.
Sanchez was in court for a sentencing on two counts of burglary, aggravated
burglary and escape from jail. Donatelli said Sanchez is out of jail
and has turned his life around since his conviction. (ABQ Journal)

September 2, 2003
Santa Fe County’s private prison operator has 30 days to come up with a
corrective-action plan to address issues raised in a recent audit by the
state Department of Corrections, the department announced Friday.
Corrections Secretary Joe Williams said workers who inspected the Santa Fe
County Adult Detention Center two weeks ago found that Management and
Training Corp. has made strides in improving security at the jail since the
state threatened to remove its inmates from the facility earlier this summer.
But Williams wants the Utah-based operator to work harder at complying with
contractual obligations regarding programs and services, he said in a written
statement Friday. Williams said the jail needs to improve its
classification and grievance procedures, discipline, record-keeping and
inmate programs such as education and recreation. The state contracts with
Santa Fe County to jail 142 medium-security Department of
Corrections inmates for a daily fee of $55.30 per inmate. The
department also has inmates in three other privately run jails in the state.
Santa Fe County’s facility rated poorly in a security audit performed in
July, when inspectors found problems with tool
inventory, key control and booking procedures. The more recent audit
showed improvement in these areas but identified other problems at the
jail. Department spokeswoman Tia Bland said the county is not providing
all the educational services it agreed to provide. For example, she
said state inmates are supposed to have an employment-readiness program
called SOAR, or Success for Offenders After Release, but MTC has not
instituted one. The facility also has not provided enough slots for
vocational computer training or compiled the proper progress reports for its
adult basic-education program, Bland said. (The New Mexican)

August 27, 2003
More than 50 Santa Fe County workers demonstrated in front of the County
Commission Tuesday asking for more than a 1.5 percent increase in wages and
benefits. Finding additional funds to offer more than a 1.5 percent
increase, which would cost the county about $234,000, may be a challenge
because of the county's current situation with the Santa Fe County Detention
Center, Commissioner Mike D. Anaya said. Because it is handling fewer inmates
than anticipated and because county inmate expenses have exceeded budget
projections, the county increased its spending at the detention center in
this year's budget from $5.3 million to $7 million. The expenditure accounted
for half of the county's total budget increase of $3.4 million. (ABQ
Journal)

August 21, 2003
Rising costs at the Santa Fe County Detention Center took a large chunk out
of the county's budget and are now affecting the county's next contract with
its union employees. Talks between negotiators for Santa Fe County and
union officials representing 250 county employees have broken down because of
differences over raises and benefits. Late Tuesday night, county
employees who are members of the American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees Local 1782 overwhelmingly rejected the county's latest
offer of a three-year contract that would give employees a 1.5 percent raise
the first year, said Robert Chavez, the union's chief negotiator.
Chavez said the offer is well below the national pay-raise average.
"The union employees want to be made a priority," Chavez said.
"They are the ones who get the job done for the county. This has been
hard on them. Morale is very low." Helen Quintana, the county's
chief negotiator, said the offer is fair. She said the county right now is
strapped for cash because of jail costs and employees were given salary
increases and lump sum bonuses in January. Quintana said the county's
offer that was rejected is the best it can do because of its current
situation at the jail. "Right now, we are at impasse until we get
the help of a mediator," Quintana said. "Until we know what our
costs are going to be at the jail, it's difficult to make more of a
commitment in our offer." As the county retains a mediator, Chavez
said he is organizing union members to speak out on the issue during the
County Commission's meeting Tuesday. Because of a loss in inmate
revenue while county inmate populations have exceeded budget projections, the
county has increased its spending at the jail in this year's budget from $5.3
million to $7 million. The expenditure accounted for half of the county's
total budget increase of $3.4 million. The jail is no longer housing
U.S. Marshals Service inmates, a loss of $960,000 annually, and the county's
inmate population has averaged 365 per day instead of the targeted population
of 330 per day. The county pays its private contractor, Management &
Training Corp., $40 per inmate per day. (ABQ Journal)

August 14, 2003
The family of Tyson Johnson, in a federal lawsuit filed Monday, claim that
instead of tending to his psychiatric care during a 17-day stay in the Santa
Fe County jail, staff there neglected and even taunted him to end his
life. The 26-page document, filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Fe on
behalf of Johnson's mother and his two young children, details the
27-year-old man's last days, during which he repeatedly pleaded for
help. The lawsuit claims those cries fell on deaf ears. Johnson ended
up hanging himself the morning of Jan. 13 with a "suicide proof"
blanket inside a padded cell, despite being placed on a suicide watch.
"Instead of giving him medical help, they put him in a cell, which was a
death trap," said Jeffrey Haas, who is representing Johnson's family,
along with Mariel Nanasi. Defendants in the lawsuit include Santa Fe
County; its private jail contractor, Management & Training Corp.; and
Physicians Network Association, which provides health care at the county
Adult Detention Center off N.M. 14. "This is serious in the sense
of a callous disrespect for his life," Nanasi said of the case.
"They didn't do anything, and they let him die. There were multiple
times they could have intervened. (ABQ Journal)

August 5, 2003
A former inmate at the Santa Fe County jail has filed a lawsuit claiming he
was subjected to "cruel and unusual punishment" when he was forced
to breathe the secondhand smoke of other prisoners' cigarettes. The
county jail's former manager, Cornell Corrections, is named as a defendant in
the suit. A spokesman for Cornell said Monday he could not comment directly
on the lawsuit because he hasn't seen it. Ethan E. Roberts, who filed
the suit last week in Santa Fe District Court, claims that because of his
exposure to environmental tobacco smoke as an inmate at the county jail,
"he has now lost a major portion of his lung capacity and can be
expected to become fully disabled." According to the lawsuit,
inmates at the Santa Fe County jail, "smoke cigarettes in their cells
and living areas in an unrestricted manner." Santa Fe County
Sheriff Greg Solano said in a recent interview that he would like the county
to change the jail's smoking policy and make it a smoke-free facility, both
for inmates and guards. Solano said that in addition to cutting down on
the health risk to inmates and employees, adopting a no-smoking policy also
might cut down on the amount of illegal drugs that is brought into the
facility, because inmates will instead focus on trying to smuggle in
cigarettes. Solano could not be reached for comment on Roberts' lawsuit
Monday, but he has said that the County Commission would ultimately need to
approve any smoking ban at the jail. Roberts, now an inmate at a
federal penitentiary in Big Spring, Texas, was housed at the Santa Fe County
jail from April 16, 1999, to June 8, 2000, according to the lawsuit. An
official at the Federal Correctional Institution in Big Spring could not be
reached for comment Monday to explain why Roberts is in prison. Roberts
says in his lawsuit that four days after his arrival
at the Santa Fe jail, he has placed in a 10-by-8-foot cell with a prisoner
who smoked about 15 cigarettes a day. Subsequent bunkmates included inmates
who smoked a pack a day; three packs a day; and 12 to 15 days, respectively,
according to the suit. Roberts claims in the suit he had not smoked
cigarettes for over seven years prior to being admitted at the Santa Fe
County jail. After about 75 days of exposure to high levels of secondhand
smoke, Roberts started smoking one to five cigarettes a day to "ward off
the withdrawal symptoms," according to the lawsuit. When Roberts
complained to medical staff at the facility about medical problems he
suffered due to the secondhand smoke, they were indifferent, according to the
suit. (ABQ Journal)

July 27, 2003
Jail guards or civilians who help bring illegal narcotics into the Santa Fe
County jail might wind up spending time there as inmates. And
inmates who bring drugs in will be caught and face a longer list of criminal
charges. That's the message Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano
hopes to send after he announced that 12 defendants either face or will face
criminal charges as a result of an ongoing six-month investigation into drug
smuggling into the Santa Fe County jail by a task force headed by Lt. Marco
Lucero. Six defendants have already been arrested and charged in
connection with the operations, including one former jail guard. The former
guard, Gilbert Perea, 21, is charged with one count of bringing contraband
into a place of imprisonment. The undercover investigation will
continue in the weeks and months to come, Solano said. "We
get reports on a weekly basis of drugs being in the jail," Solano said. The
ease with which inmates in the jail can obtain drugs led Lucero to compare it
to a candy store. "The drugs on the inside are just
outrageous ... the availability," Lucero said. Solano said
that the continuing investigation "is just the beginning" and will
"target everybody," including jail guards, inmates and civilians.
Other names released by Solano on Thursday in connection with the sting
operation are Manuel Gabaldon, 19, and Joseph Martinez, 18, who are charged
with leaving a balloon of heroin, a balloon of psilocybin mushrooms and 8
grams of high-grade marijuana near a picnic table on jail grounds earlier
this month. Carolina Lovato, 19, was arrested and charged with a count
of trying to bring contraband into the jail after a February incident, when
she was intercepted at the McDonald's at Cerrillos Road and Don Diego Avenue.
She was caught with two balloons of heroin, which she later said were
intended for an inmate at the jail, according to the probable cause statement
for her arrest. Perea was arrested in May, after a sheriff's
deputy obtained information that Perea would be attempting to bring contraband
into the facility. Perea was searched when he came in for work
after the deputy got the tip. "He immediately stood up
reaching into his pants," reads the probable cause statement. The
deputy found a condom containing marijuana, heroin and cocaine inside Perea's
pants. Perea later told deputies that he received about $100
cash for bringing in the drugs, according to the statement. "He
then began to converse about his personal, financial problems and how he was
in debt to the Wal-Mart department store in Las Vegas, New Mexico,"
reads the statement. In addition to the civilians trying to
bring drugs to the jail, six inmates have been charged or have charges
pending as a result of the investigation. An inmate at the jail
who was arrested, Isaac Valencia, 21, was nabbed during a search after he
returned from a medical furlough in May with nine balloons filled with
marijuana hidden in his rectum. A confidential informant tipped off
authorities that Valencia would be bringing drugs into the jail. Solano
said proper searches of inmates for drugs when they return from the outside
on work-release programs or furloughs is a major issue when it comes to
stopping the flow of illegal narcotics into the jail. Inmates
are supposed to be strip-searched after returning from work-release programs,
but Solano said that when he came in as sheriff in January, that was not
always the practice. "I have to rely on (jail employees) to
do their jobs," but, "I'm going to be monitoring them," Solano
said. Solano said he is making stopping drugs from entering the
jail a major priority, and he even has his own set of keys to the jail so he
can monitor the facility unannounced. Investigative methods used
by the sheriff's department as part of the operation included monitoring
inmate telephone calls, surveillance, the recruitment of confidential sources
and undercover operations. The investigation, which included
members of the Region III Narcotics Task Force, was initiated in February,
well before a July announcement by state Corrections Secretary Joe R.
Williams that the jail's contractor, the Utah-based Management and Training
Corp., had 30 days to clean up security problems found at the jail. If the
company doesn't fix the problems, Williams said he may move to terminate a
$2.8 million contract to house state inmates, 144 as of his July 11
announcement. Solano said Thursday that initially, no jail
officials were told about the investigation into drugs at the jail, and
later, only the warden and a single MTC investigator were told, so as to keep
word from getting out among guards who might be interested in smuggling in
contraband. Lucero said he considers the operation a success
thus far and added that he believes it has made it more difficult for inmates
to get illegal drugs. Lucero added that some of the methods for
obtaining information on who was bringing drugs in the jail are
"untraditional," but he refused to elaborate. "It's
something that hasn't been done in quite a while," he said. (ABQ
Journal)

July 22, 2003 Friends and families of inmates at the Santa Fe
County Detention Center were kept from visiting the prisoners Sunday because
the jail was short of guards. Warden Steve Hargett said visitors
weren't allowed at the jail because two correctional officers unexpectedly
had to take an inmate to the hospital. One guard had already called in sick
when the medical emergency occurred, which left too few guards to supervise
visits, he said. Visits resumed Monday. Hargett, who works for
contracted jail-operator Management and Training Corp., said he hopes the
continual short-staffing problems at the jail are almost over. Saturday
and Sunday are typically the busiest visiting days at the center, which is
why Hargett said he'll be working this week to adjust schedules and make sure
extra guards are on duty on weekends. MTC has had trouble keeping the
jail adequately staffed. The concern was raised in a report issued this
spring by the federal Department of Justice. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

July 12, 2003
New Mexico Corrections Secretary Joe R. Williams left little room for doubt:
Santa Fe County, and by extension its private jail contractor, has 30 days to
clean up security problems at the county's adult detention center. Otherwise,
Williams said, he may move to terminate a $2.8 million contract to house
state inmates, 144 as of Friday, at the county jail. A crew of
10 state inspectors descended unannounced Wednesday on the county lockup,
operated by Management & Training Corp., on N.M. 14 south of Santa Fe. "I
was not pleased with what we found," Williams said at a press conference
at the state corrections office Friday. None of the problems posed an
imminent threat to anyone's safety, he said. The state security
audit came four months after a critical report from the U.S. Department of
Justice that detailed overall problems at the jail, including inmate medical
care. County Sheriff Greg Solano has said he's been working with DOJ to
remedy those problems short of litigation. He expressed as much
or more displeasure Friday than Williams. "I met yesterday
with the vice president of MTC, Al Murphy, as well as the warden, Steve
Hargett, and I laid down the law," Solano said. "We will take care
of these issues, we will take care of them within
this 30-day period... " (ABQ Journal)

July 11, 2003
More bad news arrived Wednesday at the Santa Fe County Adult Detention
Center, where a surprise state inspection discovered "serious security
issues," according to the state Corrections Department. County
Sheriff Greg Solano and Corrections Department spokeswoman Tia Bland declined
Thursday to specify the problems found in the unannounced audit. Corrections
Secretary Joe R. Williams and Solano plan to address the media today, Bland
said. She said the security issues involved did not present
immediate threats to the health or safety of any inmates. A July
4 escape from the McKinley County Detention Center prompted state interest in
security there and at the Santa Fe County jail. The state contracts with both
counties to house state prisoners, 144 in Santa Fe County, Bland said. Bland
would not comment on whether the state inmates would be moved out of the
county facility. A private contractor, Utah-based Management & Training
Corp., has operated the jail on N.M. 14 south of Santa Fe since fall 2002.
MTC also manages the McKinley County facility. "A few
options are on the table, but with our inmates there we have to have an
active role," Bland said Thursday by phone. "We need to figure out
a way to work with Santa Fe County and have them fix what those problems are,
or look at other options." The county jail has been a
persistent headache for not only the sheriff's office but the county
commissioners. The U.S. Department of Justice in March released a critical
report of conditions there, citing 51 changes that should be made. The
U.S. Marshals Service, which also contracted to lodge inmates at the county
jail, pulled its prisoners along with release of that report. Reports
of poor medical attention, drug overdoses and sexual assaults of female
inmates have plagued the facility, which until last year was run by Cornell
Corrections. Talk of the county resuming operation of the jail
itself has cropped up at the County Commission and at the sheriff's office
recently. (ABQ Journal)

July 9, 2003
If anyone thought private prisons would go away after Gary Johnson left the
governor's office, they're in for a disappointment. "Private
prisons will remain a part of the state-prison landscape," said
Corrections Secretary Joe Williams, who previously worked for the
Florida-based Wackenhut Corporation as warden of the prison in Hobbs.
The state also houses 140 inmates at the controversial Santa Fe County jail,
which since 2001 has been operated by a Utah-based private company called
Management and Training Corp. MTC took over the jail contract from
Cornell Companies Inc. Williams told the Legislative Finance Committee
last month that more inmates might have to move into the Santa Fe and
Torrance County jails due to overcrowding at state prisons. Williams
acknowledges the Santa Fe facility is a jail designed for short-term inmates,
not a prison designed for convicts serving longer sentences. He sees the jail
as a "holding center" to house new inmates temporarily until they
are assigned to a long-term facility. But the roster of state inmates
at the Santa Fe jail includes some longtime inmates. Those close to the end
of their sentences probably will stay in the jail, Williams said. State
inmates in the jail have complained about inadequate medical treatment and
education programs and staff shortages, which they say create an unsafe
environment. Inmates at the Santa Fe jail have to pay as much as 30
percent more for mail-order canteen items -- food products, personal-hygiene
supplies and personal property such as radios -- than do inmates at state
prisons, some say. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

July 2, 2003
The adoptive parents of a former Santa Fe County jail inmate who died there
at age 19 of a drug overdose in July, 2001, have sued the jail's former
private manager, the county and others associated with the facility.
Santiago Martinez of Chimayó was admitted to the jail around September 2000,
on charges of heroin trafficking, drug paraphernalia possession and other
charges, according to the suit. Martinez "had a very
serious substance abuse problem or substance abuse addiction" at the
time he was placed in the jail's custody, the suit says. The
lawsuit alleges that Cornell Corrections, Santa Fe County and former County
Sheriff Ray Sisneros, among other defendants, did not conduct appropriate
medical screening for Martinez to identify and treat Martinez's drug problem.
All of the defendants contacted by the Journal, including a
spokesman at Cornell Corrections, Santa Fe County Attorney Stephen Ross and
Sisneros, declined to comment Tuesday. "How can I comment
on something I haven't seen?" Sisneros said. He said that
under terms of a county contract with former jail manager Cornell, the firm
agreed to handle tort claims filed against the jail while under its
management. The county chose not to renew its contract with
Cornell when it expired in 2001. The jail is now managed by another private
contractor — Management & Training Corp. At
the time of Martinez's death, he was in the administrative segregation unit,
which "is supposed to be the most secure and protected environment"
in the jail, the suit states. Inmates there are confined to
their cells 23 hours a day, and are supposed to be monitored and scrutinized
for possession of controlled substances, according to the suit. The
defendants named in the suit, "allowed the administrative segregation
unit at the detention center to be understaffed for its functions and its
responsibilities." Shortly after Martinez's death, former
Sheriff Sisneros said in an interview that investigators believed Martinez
was given heroin and a syringe while he was out of jail for a court
appearance before his death. The suit alleges Martinez died of a
morphine overdose. Martinez had a court appearance the day
before he was found dead, according to the suit. The suit says Martinez was
not properly searched before re-entering the jail after the court hearing. Sisneros
said during the 2001 interview that investigators believed Martinez hid his
drugs in a body cavity. The lawsuit alleges Cornell, the county
and Sisneros "allowed a dangerous, and unsafe and unhealthy condition to
exist on the physical premises" of the jail. Martinez did
not have the "proper forms, procedures, and information" to
"obtain access to substance abuse programs or treatment" while he
was in the segregation unit, the suit states. Steven Farber, the
attorney for Martinez's family, said Tuesday that drugs need to be kept away
from people in the jail who have serious substance abuse problems. "If
you're not treating people, it's clear that if it's (drugs) available,
they'll attempt to get it," Farber said. (ABQ Journal)

July 2, 2003
A Santa Fe woman's Tuesday morning escape from a work crew comprised of
female jail inmates emphasizes the need for identifying inmates at risk of
flight and not allowing them to participate in the program, the Santa Fe
County sheriff said. Linda Lucero, 54, escaped at around 9:30 a.m. from a
county work crew cleaning the roadway in the area of St. Francis Drive and
Sawmill Avenue, Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano said. She was captured
around 1:15 p.m. the same day, Solano added. On Monday, Santa Fe District
Judge Michael Vigil had sentenced Lucero to three years in prison for failure
to comply with the conditions of her release on a prior conviction on counts
of fraud, forgery and conspiracy. "At that point, she really should not
have been on the work crew," Solano said. Jail officials on Tuesday were
not aware that Lucero had been sentenced to prison, Solano said. She
apparently did not tell anyone at the jail, he added. Lucero's attorney,
Stephen Aarons, said Tuesday that Vigil had given her the option of being
sentenced to a 90-day drug treatment facility, but she began to argue with
the judge, saying she didn't want to go to a treatment facility. "I told
her to shut up," Aarons said. Vigil complied with Lucero's wish to avoid
drug treatment, sentencing her to three years in a women's prison. Lucero
then proceeded to cause a loud disturbance in the courtroom, Aarons said.
"She was literally dragged out of court writhing and screaming, feet
first," Aarons said. Solano said that earlier this year, the jail
implemented a work crew program for female inmates. Lucero qualified for the
program and was placed on the list, but in the future, there will be a
procedure for taking inmates' names off the approved work crew list if they
are subsequently given prison sentences, he said. The jail only recently
implemented a work crew program for female inmates because of a Department of
Justice report that said the jail needed to create more work opportunities
for women, Solano said. Lucero was convicted in 2002 of fraud of more than
$250, conspiracy and forgery. As part of her plea agreement, she also
admitted to a previous bank fraud conviction, according to court records. As
part of her plea, Lucero agreed to pay restitution for two forged checks and
27 worthless checks. Lucero's probation was revoked, and she was arrested and
held without bond after a November 2002 incident, when she failed to comply
with the conditions of her release and absconded from electronic monitoring,
according to court records. (ABQ Journal)

June 22, 2003
More changes at the Santa Fe County jail — where a new warden has been in
place since April — are on the way, said Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano,
who has taken a leading role in county oversight of the privately run jail.
The changes are slated in the wake of a scathing March report by U.S.
Department of Justice investigators, who were harshly critical of jail
conditions, including medical care for inmates. The DOJ's requested changes
in how the jail is run include staffing increases that would result in an
additional $750,000 in jail operations costs, Solano said. Officials with the
DOJ in Washington, D.C., could not be reached for comment Thursday. Solano
said he's not sure if it's a coincidence that the sheriff's department's new
office complex is located directly across from the county jail off N.M. 14
but that being so close helps him keep watch over the facility. "I'm
glad it was done that way," Solano said of the Santa Fe County Sheriff's
Department's moving into its new location in a $4.1 million public safety
complex last year. "I can just walk across the street and go in and
monitor the jail." Solano said he makes frequent visits to the jail to
make sure things are running smoothly. Solano also said that since January,
there have been more "shakedowns" of jail employees and jail
visitors to crack down on contraband. "I really take an ownership in the
jail," Solano said. Solano said that if problems at the jail cannot be
fixed under MTC's management, he would not recommend that another private
company manage the jail and that it should instead be back in the hands of
the county. But, Solano added, "We're still giving MTC the benefit of the
doubt and allowing them to show that they can run it, and run it well."
Prior to MTC's management of the jail, it was managed by another private
company, Cornell Corrections. The county chose not to renew its contract with
Cornell in 2001. During the first fiscal year under MTC, the county lost
around $800,000 on operations at the jail, the county announced at the end of
2002. (ABQ Journal)

June 18, 2003A 39-year-old jail guard has been placed on paid
administrative leave after an inmate alleged Saturday he sexually assaulted
her. The guard hasn't been charged with a crime, Santa Fe County
Sheriff Greg Solano said. The investigation will probably take a long time,
Solano said. The inmate told police the guard touched her intimately
Friday. She also said the guard sexually assaulted her outside the jail,
Solano said Monday. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

June 17, 2003An inmate at the Santa Fe County jail told police
she was sexually assaulted by a male jail guard at the facility last
week. The woman alleged Saturday that the guard touched her intimately
on more than one occasion, including Friday, at the jail, Santa Fe County
Sheriff Greg Solano said. The woman's charges follow a damaging report
about the jail by the U.S. Department of Justice this spring that preceded
the firing of the jail's warden and his second in command. The federal report
accused jail managers of violating the constitutional rights of
inmates. The Sheriff's Department will investigate the inmate's rape
allegations, Santa Fe County Sheriff's Maj. Ron Madrid said. The guard has
not been charged with a crime. After reporting the assault Saturday,
the inmate was seen by a nurse at St. Vincent Hospital this weekend, Solano
said. (ABQ Journal)

June 11, 2003The City of Santa Fe will pay Santa Fe County more
money to house its prisoners under an agreement approved by the County
Commission on Tuesday. The new agreement resolves a conflict that has
brewed between the city and county since August 2001, when the last contract
lapsed. Between then and now, officials could not agree on the
conditions to house inmates at the Santa Fe County Detention Center, said
county jail monitor Greg Parrish. Under the new contract, the city will
pay the county $65 a day for each inmate arrested by city police. The
county jail houses inmates from 16 different jurisdictions, some that pay a
set daily rate and some that have individual payment contracts.
Currently, those counties, cities and pueblos that have a contract with Santa
Fe County pay rates of between $49 and $82 per day for each inmate, but
Parrish said all the contracts need to be renegotiated to match the costs
Santa Fe County is incurring. The county has to pay the jail's private
operator, Management and Training Corp., about $40 per day per inmate, he
said. "The contract with the City of Santa Fe should be the model
for the other contract negotiations," Parrish said. (Santa Fe New
Mexican)

June 4, 2003
With the troubled Santa Fe County detention center receiving the only
increase in county funds this year, county officials were forced to get
creative in order to hire additional staff. Despite every county
department making budget cuts because of the upcoming, tight fiscal year, the
commission funded about $300,000 worth of new positions through additional
cuts and reallocating existing funds. The county plans to
increase spending only at the detention center off N.M. 14. The jail fund is
increasing from $5.3 million to $6.6 million. The detention
center is losing revenue because federal inmates have been pulled out of the
center while the number of county inmates has risen, Lucero said. The
U.S. Marshals Service pulled its inmates from the facility after a Justice of
Department report released in March questioned the medical services inmates
are being provided at the jail. That move cost the county an estimated
$960,000. County officials said they're working to correct the
problems with its private contractor, Management & Training Corp.,
highlighted in the report. (ABQ Journal)

May 24, 2003
While the new warden of the Santa Fe County jail is getting acquainted with
the facility, the former warden is back in familiar territory as head of the
prison in McKinley County. Management and Training Corp., the company
that runs both facilities, placed then-Warden Cody Graham on administrative
leave from the Santa Fe jail this spring. The action came just three weeks
after the Department of Justice issued a report that criticized many facets
of the jail's operation. The same day Graham was placed on administrative
leave, MTC appointed vice president Al Murphy as interim warden at the jail.
Steve Hargett was named permanent warden in mid-April replacing Graham.
In March, the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department looked into allegations
that Graham was involved in a pyramid scheme, charges that Solano said were
not accurate. "What he was involved in was some kind of
home-business opportunity, like a get-rich-quick thing. Even though it
operated somewhat like a pyramid scheme, it did not seem to meet the statute
requirements for a criminal charge of a pyramid scheme," he said.
Several jail employees complained that Graham tried to talk them into
investing in the business, Solano said. The sheriff's department informed MTC
of the investigation, and they acted on it as a personnel issue, he
said. The warden even used the jail once to hold a membership meeting
for investors, she said. Graham had worked at the McKinley County
Correctional Facility for about two years before coming to Santa Fe, and
Stuart said that county's commissioners asked the company to bring him
back. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

May 22, 2003
Because many of the problems at the Santa Fe County Adult Detention Center
are linked to staffing issues, the new warden is looking to fill his ranks
immediately by holding a job fair next week. Starting pay for a
corrections officer is $10.50 an hour and although the job is
demanding. The jail is authorized by the county to have a security
staff of 108 people, but there are a dozen vacancies and five corrections
officers are away on military leave. That means jail workers now pull
12-hour shifts and are often asked to work
overtime. Many corrections officers who work at the Santa Fe facility
live in Las Vegas of Mora and ride buses to work each day. (Santa Fe
New Mexican)

May 26, 2003
Santa Fe County officials say rising cost at the county jail, low investment
returns and slow economic growth are putting a squeeze on the county budget
for 2004. Interim finance director Susan Lucero said she thinks the
county's budget crunch is a reflection of the national scene but compounded
by local factors such as the jail and water-supply problems. County
officials met with federal officials last week to settle what improvements
are needed at the jail. This spring, the department issued a report
that recommended changes in nearly every area of jail operations, from
booking to meals and mental-health programs. The federal report has
caused financial trouble for the jail. A few weeks after the report was
released, the U.S. Marshals Service pulled about 100 inmates from the
facility. The agency paid a high daily rate to the county for caring
for its inmates, so loss of the federal prisoners substantially affected the
jail's bottom line, Lucero said. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

May 22, 2003
Santa Fe County officials are meeting this week with attorneys from the
Department of Justice to discuss conditions at the county jail and determine
a course of action that could cost as much as $2 million in additional annual
jail-operation costs. The federal department issued a report this
spring that was highly critical of the jail and recommended 53 actions to
improve conditions it said violate constitutional rights of inmates.
The Santa Fe County Adult Detention Center has been operated for the county
under contract since 2001 by a Utah-based private company called Management
and Training Corp. After the scathing justice-department report, MTC
fired Warden Cody Graham and his second-in-command-, Major Greg.
Company officials and subcontractors such as Physicians Network Associates of
Texas, which provides medical services for the jail,
have worked with the county to craft a response to the justice-department
report. They began negotiations Tuesday, Hargett said. While the
exact terms of the agreement are still in negotiation, Gonzalez said the
county could end up spending an additional $500,000 to $2 million on top of
the $6 million it already spends on the jail each year. Among the
justice department's criticisms of the county jail: Inmates did not
receive adequate physical or mental-health screening
on admittance to the jail or appropriate care and supervision during their
stay. The facility did not have clean and sanitary conditions including
adequate laundry and bedding. Inmates did not have lawful access tot he
courts or for redress of grievances within the facility. Inmates and
staff were not ready for an emergency fire evacuation, and there was not enough fire extinguishers. (Santa Fe New
Mexican)

April 22, 2003Santa Fe County officials decided to "take the
high road" at the county jail and fix problems pointed out by recent
Department of Justice reports rather than dispute them. A three-page
written statement on the jail issued Monday by County Manager Gerald González
says county officials might decide to revisit some issues in the
future. Most of the disputed issues concern the medical portion of the
investigation, González said. For example, the doctor who investigated
the jail's medical services said the jail should always use name-brand drugs
instead of cheaper, generic drugs, González said. "It's beyond my
expertise," González said, but even doctors might argue over whether it
is always necessary to use name-brand drugs. González's statement comes
after four Justice Department consultants visited the jail last May and
investigated the quality of medical, mental health and security services at
the jail. One consultant also studied the way jail officials treated women
inmates. Their reports, which alleged human rights violations in the
jail's medical services, became available in March. The findings lead
jail officials to fire the warden and his second in command. Since
then, county officials have discussed taking over the jail contract from
Management and Training Corp., the Utah-based company that runs the
jail. González said Sheriff Greg Solano and county jail monitor Greg
Parrish have been in daily contact with MTC officials to try to fix problems
at the jail. Solano and Parrish also have inspected the jail to make
sure MTC officials are fixing the problems, González said. He said county
officials would continue to look at taking over the jail contract, which
expires in October 2004. Carl Stuart, head of communications for MTC,
said the company has already fixed many of the problems mentioned in the
Justice Department reports. The federal department issued MTC a list of
53 measures the company needed to fix, and 38 of them had to do with medical
or mental-health issues. González said county and MTC officials plan to
meet with Justice Department officials again in May to discuss the company's
progress. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

April 22, 2003
The Santa Fe County Detention Center has another interim warden in place as
county officials attempted to avoid a Department of Justice lawsuit over a
scathing report the federal agency released last month regarding conditions
at the jail. As Steve Hargett starts his 90-day interim period, the
veteran corrections officer looks forward to working with the county to address
the issues raised in the 34-page Justice Department report. Those
issues include questionable medical care and other inadequate services
provided by private contractor Management & Training Corp. U.S.
Attorney General could file suit against the county and Management &
Training Corp. as early as Friday to force the county to correct identified
problems. Since the report became public, the county demanded
Management & Training Corp. respond point-by-point to the report and
indicate what corrective measures had been taken or were being taken to deal
with the complaints. (ABQ Journal)

April 17, 2003
Armed with a recent Department of Justice report that is critical of the
medical care provided to inmates at the Santa Fe County Detention Center,
Suzan Garcia continues to seek answers in the January 2002 suicide death of
her son, an inmate at the facility. Since January, Garcia has been
trying to get MTC to release documents and specific information about the
suicide as part of a probate case to deal with Johnson's estate. The family
has hired attorneys Jeffrey Haas and Mariel Nanasi to handle the matter as
well as a looming civil suit. Along with settling Johnson's estate, the
lawyers are using the probate case to gather information for the lawsuit. Garcia
said that throughout her son's incarceration, she tried to get the private
contractor, Management & Training Corp., which runs the county jail, to
get her son psychiatric help. She said she made repeated calls to the warden;
the only call she ever received from jail administration was to tell her
Johnson was dead. The Albuquerque woman also said her
27-year-old son showed signs he was suicidal by slashing his wrists and
throat two days before he was found dead. She also contends corrections
officers beat him, sprayed him with pepper spray and taunted him instead of
getting him help after the incident. Leading up to March, not
much information had surfaced about Johnson's death until the DOJ released
its report March 6 of its investigation of the jail. In the report,
federal investigators are harshly critical of the medical care provided
inmates there and conclude certain conditions violate inmates' constitutional
rights. Because of the report, county officials are exploring whether to take
over the facility when its contract ends with MTC next year. On
Wednesday, the lawyers filed a motion with Santa Fe District Judge Barbara J.
Vigil to compel MTC to produce Johnson's jail records, reports and materials
regarding his death, including photographs, surveillance videos and
supervisors' logs. The lawyers claim Johnson wasn't transferred
to a hospital for psychiatric help because of cost. (ABQ Journal)

April 17, 2003The mother of a man who hanged himself at the Santa
Fe County jail last year plans to sue the company that runs the jail because
she feels her son's death was preventable. Suzan Garcia of Albuquerque
said she called Management and Training Corp. officials almost every day
during Tyson Johnson's 17-day stay at the jail to try to get him mental-health
help. "I knew every day he needed help," Garcia said.
"He needed someone to talk to, but there was no one to talk
to." Despite her pleas, Johnson's two suicide attempts in the jail
and repeated statements that he was going to kill himself, jail officials did
not get Johnson the help he needed, Garcia said. Instead, inmates who
were near Johnson when he died contacted Garcia and told her that jail guards
taunted Johnson, saying things like, "Is that the best you can do?"
after he unsuccessfully tried to kill himself by cutting his wrists.
Garcia said jail officials didn't let her speak with the warden until after
Johnson died. When the warden got on the phone, he told her Johnson had died
that morning, she said. "I knew in my heart something was wrong
that morning," Garcia said. Johnson died Jan. 13, 2002. Johnson,
27 at the time of his death, lived in Albuquerque, Garcia said. He worked
part time at a gas station and also sold paintings and woodcarvings he
created. He left behind two children, Akira, 5, and Colorado, 7. Police
arrested Johnson in Santa Fe after a domestic incident and charged him with
four felonies, Garcia said. His bail was in the neighborhood of $200,000, and
he could not afford to get out of jail. Jeff Haas, a lawyer from El
Prado who is representing Johnson's family with fellow El Prado lawyer Mariel
Nanasi, said Department of Justice reports support the family's contention
that jail officials could have prevented Johnson's suicide. Four
Department of Justice experts visited the jail last May to investigate
medical, mental health and security issues. One expert also studied how jail
officials treated female inmates. The reports on security and
mental-health issues talk about Johnson's death and say he was on a 15-minute
suicide watch, but the log ended at 6:15 a.m. the day he killed himself.
Guards discovered Johnson at 9:40 a.m., the reports say. Johnson hanged
himself with a ripped-up blanket, Nanasi said. He attached it to a fixture
near the ceiling of his cell. Haas said the reports are significant
because Johnson's family members and the state medical examiner's office both
have had trouble getting a copy of the log from MTC. Medical-examiner
officials were unavailable Wednesday afternoon for comment on the case.
Family members have not sued the company yet, Haas said, but tried to
subpoena documents from the company in March. So far, the attempt has been
unsuccessful. The state District Court in Santa Fe is handling
Johnson's estate because the probate judge had a conflict, Haas said, and the
family subpoenaed the documents through that case. Haas and Nanasi said
that although they plan on filing a civil rights case against MTC on behalf
of Garcia within the next two years, they are waiting to receive more
information before they do so. Carl Stuart, head of communications for
MTC, said the company does not comment on potential litigation. Stuart
said all he can say is that company officials are reviewing paperwork
connected to the case. Garcia and Cezily Moreno, Johnson's sister, both said
the jail warden told them he had checked the log and it was up to date at the
time of Johnson's death. Garcia said she does not remember the warden's
name. The warden at the time was Cody Graham, whom MTC officials fired from
the facility about a month ago after reports of civil-rights violations at
the jail. The Department of Justice reports say Johnson died after
receiving inadequate mental-health intervention at the jail. An MTC
document responding to problems pointed out in the Justice Department reports
says the company has since stopped using Johnson's cell to house suicidal
inmates. The federal reports said the cell was dangerous because guards could
not easily see inside from outside the cell and because it had a fixture and
a grate to which inmates could tie a noose. A year 2000 report from the
Center on Institutions and Alternatives and the Justice Department's National
Institute of Corrections states that jail suicide rates are nine times higher
than the rate for the general population. Jail suicides occur at a rate
of 107 per 100,000 inmates, the report states. Most jail-suicide
victims are young, white, single, first-time, nonviolent
offenders, the report says. The victims often have a
substance-abuse history and hang themselves with bed clothing in isolated
jail housing within the first 24 hours of arrest, the report says.
(Santa Fe New Mexican)

April 14, 2003A federal Department of Justice report on
mental-health issues at the Santa Fe County jail says officials need to vastly
improve mental-health treatment and suicide prevention measures at the
jail. Dennis F. Koson, a Florida psychiatrist and expert on inmate
mental-health issues, wrote the report for the DOJ as a part of a largerinvestigation into how the facility is run.
The report states that one inmate with a history of mental illness didn't
receive his medication for five days, and after 10 days at the jail he cut
his wrists. While the man was on suicide watch, guards discovered the
man had cut his wrists with a razor blade after blood started running out
from under his cell door, the report states. The report says the man used the
razor blade after officers apparently failed to properly search the
inmate. At the time Koson visited the jail, the facility did not have
an on-site psychiatrist, and inmates relied on a counselor or a
nurse-practitioner to prescribe psychotropic medications, the report
states. "This staffing pattern is grossly inadequate for the
mental-health needs of this facility," Koson wrote. (Santa Fe New
Mexican)

April 14, 2003The Department of Justice gave officials working
for the company that manages the Santa Fe County jail a list of 53 practices
they needed to change. Four consultants visited the jail for the DOJ
last May and investigated the jail's medical services, mental-health
services, security procedures and treatment of women inmates. The
summary report was particularly critical of the jail's medical facilities -
saying inadequate treatment amounted to civil-rights violations - but the
summary report and detailed reports from the consultants pointed out other
problems as well. A report on security said some jail guards were
expected to watch more than 120 prisoners at a time and recommended more
guards. Stuart said the company has also made great strides increasing those
numbers, although he did not have exact figures. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

April 11, 2003A female inmate at the Santa Fe County jail says
there’s one annoyance she hasn’t escaped in jail - cleaning up after
men. Loretta Ortega, 35, of Santa Fe, an inmate for more than three
months, said jail administrators have moved her twice, both times into dirty
sections of the jail previously inhabited by male inmates. And both
times, Ortega and other women inmates have had to clean up after the men. “I
have stated on my grievance forms that we are inmates, not Merry Maids,” she
said. Ortega said when she entered the jail in January she was in a
section that had been inhabited by women inmates for a while. It was nice and
clean, she said. But a few weeks later, jail administrators moved the
women into another section - one where men had lived - and the women cleaned
it and painted the walls, Ortega said. “It was very nasty,” Ortega
said. “They had urinated on the walls and lit fires.” On Wednesday,
jail administrators moved the women back to the two sections they had
occupied when Ortega first entered the jail, and Ortega feared another
mess. Carl Stuart, communications director for Management and Training
Corp., the company that runs the jail, confirmed the women inmates have moved
twice, but only to better accommodate space at the jail. (Santa Fe New
Mexican)

April 5, 2003
A recent report by U.S. Department of Justice investigators is harshly
critical of the medical care provided to prisoners at the Santa Fe County
jail, concluding that "certain conditions at the Detention Center
violate the constitutional rights of inmates." The report contends
inadequate care cost a diabetic inmate his sight and that other prisoners failed
to get adequate care for head trauma, pregnancy and mental problems leading
to suicide. "We have made tremendous improvements," said Jean
Brock, senior vice president of Lubbock, Texas,-based Physicians Network
Association. Brock said her company had only been on the job at the
Santa Fe County jail a couple of months when the DOJ team visited. Another
company, Correctional Medical Services, previously had the contract for
medical care. "It's a completely different facility now," Brock
said. A spokesman for Management and Training Corp., the private
company that runs the jail and subcontracts with PNA for medical care, said
MTC couldn't comment on the specifics of the DOJ report "because it may
become a point of litigation." Carl Stuart of MTC did say that
"management practices by the previous operator" of the jail Cornell
Companies of Texas, which was replaced as county's jail operator in the fall
of 2001 "prompted the investigation." The report provided
several examples where specific but unnamed inmates encountered health care
problems. A diabetic patient who lost his vision had to go six weeks
before he was sent to an ophthalmologist, who immediately referred him to a
retina surgeon, the DOJ found. The inmate had to wait nearly another two
weeks before the jail took him to the surgeon, who asked for permission to
operate immediately. "Nonetheless, the inmate did not receive the
surgery for another 10 days," the report says. "Although this
inmate's blindness could have been prevented had he received appropriate
care, the delay in treatment caused him to lose his vision permanently.
Some of the other case histories in the report include: * An inmate who
reported a history of head trauma at intake and who displayed numerous
symptoms, including bowel dysfunction, difficulty balancing and weakness to
his left side, wasn't sent to the emergency room for nine days.
"This denial of treatment resulted in the worsening of the inmate's
condition," the report says. * An inmate who committed suicide by
hanging himself with a strip of blanket in January 2002 after threatening or
trying several times to kill himself wasn't adequately observed on a suicide
watch. * An inmate went eight months without receiving an adequate
assessment for glaucoma, despite repeated requests. "If this inmate has
glaucoma, he may become blind unless he receives treatment," the report
said. * A mammogram was ordered for an inmate who reported lumps in her
breasts and armpit in October 2001, but the mammogram still hadn't taken place
when the DOJ team went to the jail seven months later. The report also
blasts the jail on other issues, including fire prevention, sanitation and
hygiene. The report says that some inmates went as long as three weeks after
entering the jail without being given underwear. DOJ also found that
the county was not providing inmates with sufficient access to legal
assistance or a law library, and that the grievance system for inmates was
inadequate. County correctional services manager Gregory Parrish said the
county and jail managers have been working on correcting the deficiencies
since last May. "We are continuing to do that to make sure health
care at the jail is up to the standard the county expects," Parrish
said. He said DOJ representatives met with jail managers last week and
"we gave them a document explaining all the corrective actions"
taken so far. The county announced in May that DOJ was investigating at
the jail after a number of sexual assault and drug violation allegations had
surfaced in the previous year. The report said DOJ didn't find an
"ongoing pattern or practice of sexual misconduct" at the jail, but
did say the reporting and investigative systems for such matters was
flawed. The county is addressing the concerns raised in the report with
MTC officials, County Commissioner Jack Sullivan said. "It's now
on our front burner," he said. "I was quite surprised when I read
the report." Commissioners said most of the problems raised in the
report have been addressed by MTC. Sullivan also said the commission is
looking into whether the county needs "to provide additional money for
medical personnel or whether it is poor performance on (MTC's)
part." Sullivan said the report is not enough justification for
the county to take over the jail but supports examining the issue.
(Albuquerque Tribune)

March 26, 2003
Mounting problems at the Santa Fe County jail, including the dismissal this
week of its top two officers, prompted County Commissioner Paul Duran to
suggest re-examining the jail operating contract Tuesday. Management
& Training Corp., the private Utah-based jail contractor, placed Warden
Cody Graham and Maj. Greg Lee on paid administrative leave Monday based on
county concerns about the treatment of female inmates. County Attorney Steve
Kopelman wrote MTC Feb. 17 of female inmates' complaints they were denied
adequate medical attention, clothing and items of hygiene. County
correctional service manager Gregory Parrish called Graham's and Lee's
removal "a positive move by MTC in addressing the issues we are
concerned about." Nonetheless, the commission Tuesday heard more
bad news about the detention center, which lead
Duran to suggest the county itself resume the jail operation. The three-year
contract with MTC expires Sept. 30, 2004. "Even if we break even,
it's worthwhile," he said. The County Commission moved $740,000
out of a $3 million general-fund surplus Tuesday to cover jail cost overruns
and also received the annual Correction Advisory Committee report. "The
report is frightening," Commissioner Harry Montoya said. The
seven-member advisory committee reported MTC is not providing enough case
managers to deal with inmates and needs to improve inmate visitation and
medical staffing. The committee is also troubled by correctional staff
turnover. "The evidence is building that the county should take
over the facility," said committee member Mitch Buszek. MTC
spokesman Carl Stuart said Graham and Lee will not be returning to Santa Fe
but could land jobs at other company facilities. In February, Kopelman
wrote MTC that female inmates in January had complained they were not given
adequate personal hygiene items, toilet paper, clothing or medical attention.
The women also indicated they were given one set of detention uniforms but
not the required two sets of underclothing and socks, the letter
states. The women complained to their case managers but nothing was
done and they were threatened with lockdown for complaining, the letter
states. MTC sent two high-ranking officials from its Centerville, Utah,
corporate office — Al Murphy, vice president of correction operations, and
Jay Bodman, correction operations manager — to operate the 672-bed jail on
N.M. 14 south of Santa Fe while replacements are sought, Stuart said.
For the fiscal year ending June 30, the county budgeted $4.7 million for jail
operations, based on an average county inmate population of 330 per day at
$40 per inmate. But the inmate population has averaged about 365 per day,
resulting in $640,000 in additional costs, said county finance director
Katherine Miller. The county also has lost about $100,000 in revenue
because other agencies, including the U.S. Marshals Service, failed to send
enough inmates to keep the jail full, Miller said. The turnover issue
cited in the advisory committee report troubles county officials most; it
calls into question the amount of training the corrections officers
have. "We don't want to have employees who are interested in
making a living for a short amount of time," Duran said. At a county-run
facility, corrections officers would receive county wages and benefits and
would have opportunities to move to other county departments, including the
Sheriff's Department, Duran said. Sheriff Greg Solano said he needs
time to study whether the county should take over the jail. But he's
encouraged by the changes MTC has made, he said. (ABQ Journal)

March 26, 2003
Santa Fe County advisory committee report says the county's jails need better
visitation facilities, more medical staff and a reduction in staff turnover,
among other improvements. Steve Marvin, vice chairman of the
Corrections Advisory Committee delivered the committee's annual report
Tuesday to the County Commission. Marvin said the adult jail, run by
Management and Training Corp. of Utah, needs to hire more inmate case
managers. MTC has only three case managers, Marvin said, and each one
handles 150 inmates. Cornell Companies Inc., the company that ran the jail
before MTC took it over in October 2001, had twice as many case managers, he
said. Marvin said the committee also suggests the company provide more
space for visits. The committee's report says MTC officials have
suggested remedying the situation by providing video visitation, but the
committee is against that because research shows that recidivism is reduced
by frequent in-person visits with relatives. The report also says the
adult jail needs more nurses and should have a physician visit the jail two
days a week instead of one. MTC spokesman Carl Stuart said MTC is bound
by the county's contract stipulations, and if the county wants changes,
officials should ask for them. "They are the final bosses,"
Stuart said. "We serve them." The committee said the juvenile
jail's disciplinary approach might be too confrontational for juveniles, and
committee members would like more information. Cornell runs the juvenile
facility. The report also says the juvenile facility has no attending
physician since the U.S. military called Dr. Michael Patterson to duty. The
report recommended the jail find a replacement doctor. The committee
also said in the report that both the adult and juvenile facilities should
reduce staff turnover. Cornell officials said they had not heard of the
suggestions until Tuesday and wanted to examine them further before
commenting. Marvin said MTC has already fixed some problems at the
jail. For example, MTC former phone contract only allowed four calls to the
same number each day, Marvin said. The contract usually wasn't a problem,
Marvin said, except when inmates wanted to call their lawyers at the Public
Defenders Office. MTC has remedied the problem, he said. The
committee also suggests the community establish a bail fund for use by
inmates who can't afford even a low bail amount, Marvin said. He knew of one
inmate who spent nearly nine months in jail because he couldn't afford to
post $250 bail. Overall, the committee concluded the jails are working
well, Marvin said. "I don't think you have anything to be ashamed
of," he told commissioners. The commission established the
committee about a year ago because of concerns the county's privately run
jails needed community oversight. This was the committee's first
report. (The New Mexican)

March 26, 2003
The company that manages the Santa Fe County jail removed the warden and his
second in command this week because of complaints about unsanitary conditions
County commissioners, meanwhile, said Tuesday that they are seriously
considering taking over direct management of the 670-bed jail south of Santa
Fe. Jail monitor Greg Parrish said the county wrote to Management and
Training Corp. officials in February about inmates' complaints that they were
denied basic needs such as toilet paper, clothing and medical care. Female
inmates complained they were given only one uniform. When it was dirty, they
either had to wash it themselves or wait until they were given another
uniform, the letter says. When Parrish asked jail officials about the
problem, they said there weren't enough clothes to go around, the county states
in a letter to the management company. Parrish then asked jail officials to
order more clothing, which they did. Jail officials threatened to lock down
female inmates when they complained, the letter states. "These concerns
did not just occur overnight," County Attorney Steven Kopelman wrote in
the letter. "Rather, the problem evidences a deterioration of services
over a period of time." The company removed Cody Graham, who had been
warden since MTC took over the jail contract from Cornell Companies Inc. in
October 2001, and Major Greg Lee, who was second in command at the facility.
The company replaced Graham with Al Murphy, MTC vice president in charge of
corrections, as interim warden. The company replaced Lee with Jay Bodman, a
jail major. Parrish said the company hopes to name permanent replacements in
about a month. MTC spokesman Carl Stuart said the company has placed Graham
and Lee on paid administrative leave, and they will not return to the Santa
Fe jail. Stuart said the company has not decided what Graham or Lee's future
will be with MTC. Graham came to Santa Fe from Gallup ,
where he ran the 300-bed McKinley County Adult Detention Center for MTC. He
came with about 20 years of corrections experience and had worked for MTC for
about two years. Regarding sanitary conditions at the jail, Stuart said MTC
takes pride in the quality of conditions at the company's facilities. In
response to recent changes and a report from the county's Corrections
Advisory Committee that suggested other changes at the jail, county officials
at Tuesday's County Commission meeting talked seriously about taking over
management of the jail. "I think it's something we need to pursue
vigorously," County Commissioner Paul Duran said. County Manager Gerald
González said he would research what it would take to manage the jail and
make a presentation to the County Commission .
County Finance Director Katherine Miller said there would be financial pros
and cons if the county took over jail operations for the first time since the
mid 1980s. Private management companies have to pay a gross-receipts tax and
also have corporate overhead, Miller said, and those are expenses the county
would not face. However, MTC does not provide employees with certain
benefits, such as retirement pay, Miller said. Since the county would provide
retirement, that would drive up the county's costs. "There are a lot of
pros to both sides," Miller said. "It's a matter of looking at our
current ability to run it ourselves." The county has about 480
employees, Miller said, but if it took over the jail, the county would add
130 employees to the payroll. Miller said it would take time for county
officials to make the decision. Duran said he thinks the county would get
more professional applicants if the county took over operations and provided
benefits. Human-rights violations also would decrease under county
management, he said. "Even if we broke even," Duran said, "it
would be worth it." (The New Mexican)

February 26, 2003
Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano said some inmates, if they can't make
bail, end up spending as many as 400 days in jail because of Santa Fe's
backlogged courts. The county pays between $50 and $60 each day an
inmate is in the jail, Solano said, and with 300 county inmates, that amount
adds up. Solano said he looked at a list of county inmates recently and
determined about 40 of them had spent too much time in jail. Solano
said the jail already hires case managers to help inmates, but the case managers work for the jail contractor, Management and
Training Corp., not the county. Since the case managers work for MTC,
they do not have the same goals as the county, Solano said. MTC is a
for-profit company. (Santa Fe New Mixican.com)

February 5, 2003
Santa Fe city police are asking the City Council for an extra $355,000 to pay
the rising cost of housing inmates at the Santa Fe County jail. Santa
Fe Police Chief Beverly Lennen said that cost is higher than was anticipated
for the current fiscal year. The reason? City inmates are being
sentenced to longer jail time. (ABQ Journal)

December 29, 2002
A woman who became a hostage of bank robber Byron Shane Chubbuck after he
escaped from a prison transport van in December 2000 is suing over the
incident. Stephanie Angus alleges in the complaint that Cornell Corrections
of Texas Inc., then the operator of the Santa Fe County Detention Center, and
the Santa Fe County Commission violated her civil rights by allowing Chubbuck
to escape. The lawsuit was filed in Bernalillo County District Court on Dec.
19. Chubbuck, who had obtained a handcuff key from a fellow inmate, used it
to free his handcuffs, waist chains and leg shackles, then kicked out a
steel-barred window grate about 4:45 p.m. Dec 21, at Second and Montańo NW,
according to earlier reports. After his escape, he jumped fences in a nearby
neighborhood and got Angus, in a maroon Bronco, telling her that he needed
help. The lawsuit says Chubbuck forced Angus to "transport him via
surface streets of Albuquerque for over two hours," when he allowed her to
be released. She drove him to Coors and Alameda and dropped him off at a
Wendy's restaurant. Cornell and Santa Fe County negligently breached their
duty to the public by failing to protect it against dangerous individuals
such as Chubbuck, the suit says. Chubbuck's escape has also spawned another
lawsuit. A family caught in the line of fire during Chubbuck's eventual
recapture Feb. 7, 2001, filed suit in federal court in May 2002 against
Cornell and the city of Albuquerque. Francisco and Sara Holguin were asleep
in their home on Anaheim NE that night when city police rammed with their
vehicle a car Chubbuck was in, shot out the tires and shot at Chubbuck. A
bullet tore through the family trailer, inches from their heads, according to
that lawsuit, which is pending. (Albuquerque Journal)

December 29, 2002The city's share of inmates spending time in the Santa Fe County
Detention Center is escalating, and city officials worry their current budget
won't bear the load.The city was
billed for 605 inmate "days" at the jail for September 2001, while
1,522 inmate days were attributed to the city's jurisdiction in September of
this year, according to Santa Fe Police Deputy Chief Beverly Lennen.The city hasn't paid any money this fiscal
year to the jail, which is owned by the county and run by private contractor
Management & Training Corp., because county and city officials are
negotiating a daily rate for

city inmates. (Albuquerque
Journal)

December 24, 2002Operations at the Santa Fe County Detention Center lost close to $1
million in the past fiscal year and the county is on pace to lose more money
in the upcoming year.Because of an
increase in inmate population and a loss in jail revenue, the county budget
for jail operations ended $800,000 in the red between June 30, 2001, and July
1, 2002."We don't control the
expenditures of the jail, because we can't control the population of the
jail," said county finance director Katherine Miller. "We have had
better years.The deficit is
significant."Miller said the
county lost revenue in spring 2001 when the U.S. Marshals Service pulled its
inmates from the county jail after the former jail contractor, Cornell Cos.,
became the target of an investigation by the county sheriff. As a result, the
county turned to another company to manage the 670-bed facility, but not
before the U.S. Marshals Service, which pays the county $65 per inmate per
day, decreased its inmate population at the jail from 120 to as few as
65. (Albuquerque Journal)

December 5, 2002On Tuesday, the County Commission declined to vote on reviving an
independent housing authority or implementing a program designed to transport
inmates stranded at the Santa Fe County Detention Center.The five-member board tabled the two issues
until February to allow newly elected commissioners Harry Montoya and Mike D.
Anaya and Sheriff Greg Solano to participate in the debate.The commission also decided to allow Solano
to find a solution to the problem of people walking along the highway once
they are released from the detention center, which is located off N.M. 14 two
miles south of Interstate 25."Either way we look at it, it will cost us money," Duran
said. "They are not dogs. You can't take them out there and drop them
off."The commission wants to
stop released inmates from walking from the remote facility because N.M. 14
is a two-lane, narrow highway with traffic that travels at high speed.Sullivan said he is concerned that someone
released from the jail will be hit by a vehicle. (ABQ Journal)

December 4, 2002
The Santa Fe County Commission on Tuesday failed to agree on a plan for
reducing the number of released jail inmates who walk along N.M. 14 after
they are freed from the Santa Fe County Detention Center. But sheriff-elect
Greg Solano said he and the jail's operators have come up with an idea to
partly address the problem: give former inmates some of their own money back
in cash, so they can pay for their own rides into town. Currently, those who
had money when they were locked up get their money back in the form of a
check. The jail is operated under contract by Management and Training Corp.
of Utah. County corrections manager Greg Parrish estimated that about three
of the 35 to 40 inmates released daily have no one to pick them up and either
no way to get home or no home to go to. The jail is several miles south of
town, and the closest bus stop is more than 4 miles away at the Santa Fe
Premium Outlet stores. Solano said part of the problem is that inmates are
released without any cash, even if they brought a wallet full of it with them
into the jail. The current policy leaves some released inmates stranded on a
lonely stretch of road, Solano noted at Tuesday's commission meeting.
"What can you do with a check in the middle of Route 14?" he asked.
Commissioner Jack Sullivan said the released inmates also represent a
public-perception problem. "There are two things the public sees about
(a jail). Breakouts and people walking along the road." (The New
Mexican)

October 26, 2002Santa Fe County's profitable deal with the state Department of
Corrections to house state inmates at the county jail has left a neighboring
county out in the cold. Santa Fe jail officials have notified Bernalillo
County that their inmates must be out of the Santa Fe jail by the end of the
month, said Harry Tipton, Bernalillo County jail director. Tipton said along
with the Santa Fe jail, Bernalillo County inmates have been transferred to
jails in Valencia and McKinley counties. It has cost the Bernalillo County
about $400,000 to house inmates in other counties, he said. Currently,
Bernalillo County officials are discussing transferring more inmates to
McKinley County, he said. The Bernalillo inmates have to leave the Santa Fe
month, said Gregory Parrish, director of county correctional services. The
county and the state reached a three-year agreement to house at least 135
inmates at the jail. The deal will generate about $460,000 a year for Santa
Fe County. (ABQ Journal.com)

October
10, 2002
Santa Fe County stepped forward Tuesday to help the New Mexico Department of
Corrections alleviate a a shortage of beds for inmates across the
state. Starting Oct. 21, the Santa Fe County Detention Center will
house New Mexico Department of Corrections inmates, which will provide the
county with a steady stream of revenue. State inmates will ultimately
account for a quarter of the detention center capacity, said Gregory Parrish,
director of county correctional services. To house the state inmates the
county will pay MTC, the private company that runs the center, $43.30 per
inmate, an increase of $3 over what the county already pays per inmate.
The additional cost will cover medical services and programs mandated by the
state for the inmates, Parrish said. The balance will go to the county,
expected to be about $460,000 a year, he said. That will be used to pay
off the debt to construct the detention center and also be used to improve
and maintain the facility, he said. With the inmates at the center, the
state will also require MTC to provide enough guard personnel within the
cellblock, said County Attorney Steven Kopelman. (ABQ Journal)

October 10, 2002The state's medium-security prisons are overcrowded by about 400 male
inmates, some of whom are being housed in day rooms, New Mexico Corrections
Secretary James Burleson said Wednesday. Most of the overcrowding is at the
medium-security, minimum-security and minimum-restrict prisons at the Central
New Mexico Correctional Facility in Los Lunas, Western New Mexico
Correctional Facility in Grants, Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility in
Las Cruces and the Penitentiary of New Mexico near Santa Fe. Santa Fe lawyer
Mark Donatelli on Wednesday blamed the overcrowding on the department's
failure to implement alternative sentencing laws already on the books. The
corrections department, he said, is going to waste taxpayer money by moving
nonviolent inmates into county jails and private prisons. Lawrence Trujillo,
a Legislative Finance Committee prison analyst, said that not implementing
the reintegration program, locking up more offenders for technical parole
violations and sending more petty criminals to prison have contributed to
inmate overcrowding. Trujillo said the private prisons in Hobbs and Santa
Rosa, which have contracts with the state, are filled to capacity with state
and other inmates. At present, the Torrance County Correctional Facility,
another private prison, is housing more than 200 of the state's
medium-security inmates to relieve overcrowding. Trujillo said the Torrance
County private prison is planning eventually to replace state inmates with
federal inmates because the federal government pays $79 per inmate per day,
while the state pays $53 per inmate per day. (ABQ Journal)

September
26, 2002With a little more than a month before the upcoming election,
different philosophies are starting to emerge among the candidates seeking
the offices of Santa Fe County sheriff and magistrate judge. On Wednesday
night, Democratic nominee Greg Solano and Republican Roy Dennis expressed
their views on how to operate the sheriff's department. Issues Solano and
Dennis disagree on include the operation of the county jail and ways to
attract and keep deputies. With the county jail operated by a private
company, the 38-year-old Solano said it is time the county rethinks its
position. The former Santa Fe police officer said the jail staff lacks proper
training because of constant turnover. He said he is also worried about drugs
being brought into the facility. "We need to take a look at taking it
back," Solano said. (ABQ journal)

August 26, 2002
More than 140 inmates at the Santa Fe County Adult Detention Center were
placed on lockdown following an alleged assault of a correctional by two
inmates Sunday afternoon. Correctional Officer Felipe Romero was taken
to St. Vincent Hospital after he was kicked and punched by two federal
inmates about 1:15 p.m. Parrish said the lockdown, which confined
inmates to their cells, would stay in place until jail officials met with
representatives of Management Training Corporation, which has been hired by
the county to operate the center. "We will meet with the
contractor (this) morning to determine what corrective actions need to be
taken," Parrish said. (Journal North)

May 17, 2002A family caught in the line of fire when Albuquerque police shot and
wounded bank robber and federal fugitive Byron Shane Chubbuck last year is
suing the city over the ordeal and a private corrections company for not
watching him more closely. Lawyer Dennis Montoya filed the suit in federal court
May 6, alleging city police were negligent and that they violated the civil
rights of Francisco and Sara Holguin and their children by endangering them
when they recaptured Chubbuck on Feb. 7, 2001. Chubbuck — dubbed "Robin
the Hood" by the FBI for proclaiming the loot he took in heists in 1998
and 1999 would go to the poor — had been on the lam following his escape from
a prisoner transport van in Albuquerque on Dec. 21, 2000. After a manhunt,
the robber was tracked to a mobile home near the Holguins' trailer in the
Northeast Heights. The Holguins also are suing Houston-based Cornell
Corrections Inc. for negligence, alleging it should have been more cautious
because it knew Chubbuck had a propensity for violence and escape. The
company operated the Santa Fe County Detention Center, where Chubbuck was
housed and the van. (Albuquerque Journal)

May 8, 2002
Investigators from the Department of Justice arrived at the Santa Fe County
Adult Detention Center on Tuesday to begin investigating alleged past civil-rights
violations. Although jail officials do not know much about the allegations,
they say they think the alleged incidents took place before Utah-based
Management & Training Corp. took over the county-jail contract from
Houston-based Cornell Companies Inc. on Oct. 1.,
said Greg Parrish, county correctional-service manager. After receiving
complaints about jail operations, the county replaced Cornell as the jail
contractor, hired Parrish to oversee jail operations for the county full
time, and appointed members of a citizens' Correctional Advisory Committee,
Duran said. (The Santa Fe New Mexican)

February 19, 2002A former Santa Fe County jail guard was given a deferred probation
sentence Monday for intimidating a witness and tampering with evidence, according
to the district attorney's office. Carlos Dean, who was found not guilty in
November of forcing a disabled inmate into a sex act, will have no record of
the sentence if he completes his probation successfully, said Assistant
District Attorney A.J. Salazar. Salazar said the 60-day psychological
evaluation of Dean conducted between his trial and Monday's sentencing
recommended incarceration, but state District Judge Stephen Pfeffer decided
probation would suffice. Dean could have received up to 13 years in prison
after he was accused of forcing a 40-year-old inmate to perform oral sex on
the guard in the inmate's jail cell in 1999, bribing the inmate to keep quiet
about the incident and washing the inmate's prison jumpsuit because it had
semen on it. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

February 9, 2002A man charged with stabbing and beheading a Santa Fe woman in October
2000 spat in a fellow inmate's face Friday during a court appearance that got
out of control. Both Lara-Sanchez and the man he spat at, Tony Sanchez, were in handcuffs for their court appearances,
and no one was injured during the melee. According to a tort claim filed in
October 2001 by Sanchez's attorney, Mark Donatelli, Sanchez was placed in the
same cell as Lara-Sanchez at the Santa Fe County jail in September 2001
despite the fact that they were known enemies. Lara-Sanchez subsequently
badly beat Sanchez, who was still in handcuffs, Donatelli alleged. "Mr.
Tony A. Sanchez was placed in the cell with his hands cuffed toward the back,
the cell door was closed and Ivan Lara-Sanchez immediately attacked and beat
Mr. Tony A. Sanchez," reads the tort claim. Cornell Corrections, the
company that used to manage the jail, and Santa Fe
County should have known that Lara-Sanchez posed a threat to Sanchez, and
steps should have been taken to keep them apart, according to Donatelli's
tort claim. Donatelli said in a phone interview Friday that the two are
enemies because of an ongoing criminal investigation, but he declined to
elaborate. Donatelli said he would investigate Friday's incident and added
that the jail's new management, officials at the Utah-based Management &
Training Corporation, should have known Sanchez and Lara-Sanchez's history.
"It's hard to believe that they got put together again," Donatelli
said. (Albuquerque Journal)

December
11, 2001
The Santa Fe County jail has fired two former corrections officers in the
mistaken release in late October of a prisoner accused of rape. Greg
Parrish, county correctional services manager,
said in early November that jail officials had obtained a release order for a
Javier Gonzales accused of shoplifting, but the wrong inmate was let
go. "Two employees of (Management Training Corp.) were
dismissed," Parrish said. "It doesn't appear that there's any
criminal intent involved." Parrish was hired by the county to act
as a liaison with the privately run jail after Utah-based Management and
Training Corp. assumed its management in October. (Albuquerque
Journal)

November 25, 2001
Paula Arrietta-Boyce said her ulcer bled for two months during the time she
was incarcerated at the Santa Fe County jail. But corrections officers and
medical staff repeatedly ignored her requests for help. "I'd be in
pain and I'd actually vomit blood," the 34-year-old mother said. Eventually,
she said, the jail's medical unit gave her medicine. "When you go
to medical, you have to have a stinking fit so they give you some help,"
the former inmate charged. Difficulty obtaining medical care was one of
the leading complaints of inmates during the time Cornell operated the adult
detention center on N.M. 14 south of Santa Fe. Under Cornell, inmates
also complained about lack of toilet paper, being kept in segregation for too
long, sexual harassment and lack of access to the facility's law library -- a
room with plastic lawn chairs and portable shelves holding a few books.
District Judge Michael Vigil said that getting medical treatment for inmates
was a constant struggle. He was forced to contact authorities on several
occasions to confirm that inmates were receiving needed treatment. But
Vigil said he felt the company wanted to try to cut its costs. County
Commissioner Javier Gonzales said the county was aware of the problems but
found it difficult to hold Cornell accountable because it "didn't have
as tight a contract as we should have." Santa Fe County Sheriff
Ray Sisneros, who had oversight responsibility for the jail while running his
department, agreed that the contract lacked teeth to "hold Cornell's
feet to the fire." He added that the warden "had to take
something from me very strongly because I could make life difficult for him,
but still, the warden didn't answer to the sheriff. The warden answered to
corporate." "It was really their duty to get (inmates) to
medical treatment," public defender Scott Reidel said. But he said
Cornell's solution was to tell inmates, "Get
your lawyer to get you a medical furlough." The bottom line was
more important to the company than inmates' problems, Donatelli
declared. In May, 54 inmates at the jail complained in a letter to
Cornell that they did not receive enough toilet paper even though the jail
promised them a roll each Monday and a second roll the following
Friday. Sixty-six federal inmates housed at the county jail also filed
a grievance last May. Their letter demanded more access to the law library
and more legal resources. "We need law materials to help us work with
our cases," the letter stated. They also complained about the
shortage of toilet paper. Cornell also suffered from various management
problems, including billing mistakes, low morale, understaffing and high
turnover. One warden lasted only three months. The last, Lawrence Barrerras,
spent a lot of his time negotiating contracts for Cornell at other
facilities. "That's when (Undersheriff) Benjie Montano and I saw
stuff go wrong," Sisneros said. "It was very difficult for him to
run the facility when he wasn't
there." (The Santa Fe New Mexican)

November 14, 2001
A 40-year-old developmentally disabled man told a jury Tuesday that a former
Santa Fe County jail guard forced him to perform a sex act while he was an
inmate at the jail in April 1999. The former jail guard, Carlos Dean,
25, warned the man afterward not to tell jail officials, the man
testified. Dean is charged with criminal sexual penetration,
threatening a witness and tampering with evidence. After the attack,
another former inmate, John Christenbury, said he heard the attack and
reported it. Christenbury also said he heard a man crying during the attack.
Questioned by Maj. Anthony Romero of the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department
after the incident, Dean admitted masturbating in the cell, cleaning the mess
and washing the man's clothing, the affidavit said. However, Dean denied
going into the inmate's cell or having contact with him, according to the
affidavit. (Albuquerque Journal)

November 8, 2001
As police continue to look for escaped Santa Fe County Detention Center
inmate Javier Gonzalez, officials at the jail say they have taken the first
steps toward making sure a similar incident never happens again.
Management and Training Corp. officials have reassigned staff members and
have assigned a new lieutenant to the booking department to make sure
employees follow procedures correctly. MTC took over the
jail-operations contract from Cornell Companies Inc. on Oct. 1. (The
Santa Fe New Mexican)

November 6, 2001
Lest anyone wonder why public-safety officials love private prisons, Santa Fe
County Jail's latest foul-up should make matters clearer. Last week,
the privately operated jail had two Javier Gonzalezes behind bars. One,
a New Mexican, had been accused of shoplifting. The other, a citizen of
Mexico, was charged with the rape of his fiancee's 13-year-old sister.
The one accused of shoplifting was due for release. The other faced a March
trial -- and more than seven years in prison if convicted. So which one
was given his street clothes and his walking papers by the private
entrepreneurs in charge of the jail? And which one, if he has an ounce of sense,
hightailed it south of the border? A couple of
days later, the presumably blushing private entrepreneurs in charge of the
jail's locks let the right guy go. But here's the beauty of the deal
for Sheriff Ray Sisneros and Under-sheriff Benjie Montano: They simply blame
the system. "Obviously," Montano said, "someone didn't
do their job." Who? An outfit from Utah with the innocuous name of
Management & Training Corp. is the jail's new operating contractor. The
company's designated warden, Cody Graham, assures Santa Feans that "we
have the proper policies and procedures" -- so no changes are needed.
Such assurance seems pretty blithe when you consider that no one had bothered
to mug the guy accused of shoplifting, so photo comparisons couldn't be run
before releasing the rape suspect -- and when common sense would demand
double- and triple-checking identities before sending inmates on their merry
way. The new jail contractor has been on the job here only a month
after replacing Cornell Corrections Corp. -- so count on management and
training to blame Cornell for freeing an accused felon. The buck should
stop with the Sisneros-Montano team, which has run the sheriff's office for
more than a decade -- but they're stepping down after next year's election.
Among the many aspirants to succeed them, at least one candidate should come
out for county operation of the jail. And if only one does, he or she should
have a head start in the race to be our next sheriff. (The Santa Fe New
Mexican)

November 2, 2001
In a case of apparent mistaken identity, Santa Fe County jail officials on
Monday mistakenly released the wrong Javier Gonzales, a Mexican national
charged with raping a 14-year-old girl in Espanola. Santa Fe County
Undersheriff Benjie Montano said Thursday that someone at the jail should
have verified they were releasing the n right Javier Gonzales.
"Obviously, someone didn't do their job," Montano said. Utah-based
Management & Training Corp. took over jail operations from Cornell
Corrections in October. (Albuquerque Journal)

October 24, 2001Santa Fe may stop paying to house city inmates in the privately run
Santa Fe County jail and send its prisoners elsewhere, unless a lower rate
can be negotiated, City Manager Jim Romero said Tuesday. Romero said city councilors
are frustrated with the rates the county charges to hold city inmates.
"The council feels that the costs are extremely high," Romero said.
Romero said another issue the city has had to contend with in recent years is
over-billing and billing mistakes made by jail management when Cornell
Corrections ran the facility. On Oct. 1, the Utah-based Management &
Training Corp. took over management of the jail from Cornell Corrections.
County Finance Director Katherine Miller said Monday that under Cornell's
management, the jail didn't swiftly correct persistent billing problems that
resulted in complaints from Santa Fe and outside law enforcement agencies
that said they were being overcharged. City Finance Director Kathryn Raveling
said over-billing by the jail was "a significant problem." The city
even went so far as to devote a full-time city police employee to correct
over-billing mistakes. (Albuquerque Journal)

September 7, 2001
Incoming Santa Fe County jail warden Cody Graham says increased training for corrections
officers will help reverse problems at the jail when the Utah-based
Management & Training Corp. takes over in October. "If we can
get the staff back to basics on security and some training, then these
problems will go away," Graham said in a telephone interview Wednesday
morning. Under the current contract with the Texas-based Cornell
Corrections, the jail has experienced a series of problems, including a death
by heroin overdose, a minor disturbance among inmates and lawsuits alleging male
and female inmates were allowed to intermingle and that a jail employee
sexually abused an inmate. Cornell withdrew from the competition for a
new contract this summer, saying the company couldn't effectively run the
jail and turn a profit based on what the county wanted to pay.
(Albuquerque Journal)

August 16, 2001
After four hours of public comment, contract tweaking and deliberation, the
Santa Fe County Commission unanimously voted Wednesday to award the contract
to run its adult jail to the Management & Training Corp., a Utah-based
private corrections firm. Company representatives were at the county
chambers to answer the commission's questions. The corporation will
take over operation of the jail Oct. 1, one day after the contract of the current
jail operator, Cornell Corrections Inc., expires. Cornell, a Houston-based
concern, on Tuesday withdrew its bid to continue running the jail, citing
financial loses it experienced at the jail here. The county said it
chose Management & Training in part because of the company's emphasis on
rehabilitation through education. (The Santa Fe New Mexican)

running the Santa Fe County's adult jail for the next three years,
saying it

had experienced financial problems operating the
facility.

Paul Doucette, a spokesman for the Houston-based
company, said Cornell had

lost a significant amount of money
running the jail. Doucette said he did

not know the exact
amount.

Santa Fe County Manager Samuel Montoya said
Cornell's decision to

withdraw its bid would not change his
decision to recommend a new

jail operator. Montoya is
expected to recommend to the commission at a special meeting at

10
a.m. today that it choose the Utah-based Management &

Training
Corp. as the new operator of the county's adult jail on N.M.

14.
The contract will be for $33 million and last for three years.

Montoya said he will recommend
that Cornell continue to operate the Santa Fe Youth Development Center on
Airport Road. A news release indicated Cornell's decision to withdraw
was premised on the

facility's ongoing financial
underperformance, which has resulted in

operating losses at the
detention center.

Doucette said the adult jail now has 122
employees, including senior staff.

Most of the guards and other
lower-ranked employees came from the previous

contractor,
Corrections Corporation of America. (AP)

August 1, 2001
A former Santa Fe County jail guard pleaded guilty Tuesday to helping three
federal inmates escape the facility four months ago for $3,000.
Lawrence Candelaria, 44, of Las Vegas, N.M., admitted in federal court he
gave the inmates a hammer, a chisel and hacksaw blades they used to saw the
metal bars and crack the window of one of the cells
of the jail. The jail is privately run by Houston-based Cornell
Companies Inc. Candelaria, who was fired shortly after his arrest in
April, also admitted letting one of the inmates use his cell phone to call
for a ride. The inmates still have not been apprehended. (The
Santa Fe New Mexican)

July 18, 2001
Police say Marcos Cordova engaged in sexual intercourse several times with a
female inmate at Santa Fe County Jail. A former Santa Fe County jail
guard was behind bars Tuesday charged with having sex with a female inmate on
numerous occasions while he worked there. Police arrested Marcos
Cordova, 39, of Santa Fe on a district-court warrant Tuesday. The
warrant stemmed from an indictment released Monday. Cordova is being
detained at the facility where he used to work in lieu of a
$25,000 cash or surely bond. According to a report from the
department, one of the incidents occurred either March 9 or 10, when male
guards allegedly let female and male inmates commingle in the same cell --
also against state law. Deputies investigated the incident, but never
filed any charges. However, two jail guards, who were not named, were
terminated about two weeks later, and one was placed on administrative leave
without pay. A woman who had been jailed on a federal drug charge said
in May she was molested by guards at the Santa Fe County Jail and raped by an
unnamed guard. (The Santa Fe New Mexican)

July 4, 2001
Officials suspect heroin overdose killed Santiago Martinez, 19, inside jail's
segregation unit. The inmate, Santiago Martinez, of Chimayo, received
the drugs when he went to Santa Fe's state district court for a hearing, said
Steve Gonzales, spokesperson for the Houston-based Cornell Companies Inc. --
the private contractor that runs the problem-riddled jail. Martinez's mother,
Tessie Martinez, said her son had told her he had been in the segregation
unit for about 20 days for an incident involving a food tray that had been
blamed on him. Inmates in segregation are locked down in a cell for 23
hours a day and are only let out for an hour, officials have said. (The
Santa Fe New Mexican)

June 21, 2001
Santa Fe County Manger Samuel Montoya said he will recommend that the
contract for the adult jail be taken away from Cornell Corrections Inc. and
given to a Utah-based company that emphasized education and
rehabilitation. If the recommendation is followed, Cornell would
continue to operate the juvenile facility, known as the Youth Development
Center, Montoya said Wednesday. The two private corrections companies competing
against Cornell are Correctional Services Corp. of Florida and Management
& Training Corp. of Utah. (The Santa Fe New Mexican)

June 13, 2001
A lack of enthusiasm over three recent offers to operate the Santa Fe County
jail for the next three years has local officials considering another option
operating the jail themselves. The bids received from three companies
sought more money than county commissioners budgeted to operate the Santa Fe
County Detention Center, County Manager Samuel Montoya said. Officials
will approach the interested companies to try to get their prices down,
Montoya said during Tuesday's County Commission meeting, while also exploring
whether the county could take over operations. Officials said bids
exceeded the county's budgeted amount by roughly $2 million. Neither
bid figures nor the proposed jail operating budget were divulged
Tuesday. "I think we should just do it, take it over and hire a
good warden," Duran said. "Someone's making money at
it. They're not doing it because it's fun to do."
(Albuquerque Journal)

May 12, 2001
The attorney for a Las Vegas, N.M., woman has filed a claim alleging the
woman was raped by an employee of the privately run Santa Fe County jail
while she was an inmate and that a former guard also tried to rape her.
The claim by Mary Lucinda Valdez, 23, follows a federal suit filed earlier
this year by three women who were locked up at the jail claiming the former
guard, Marcus Trujillo, sexually abused them. According to the claim
filed for Valdez by Taos attorney Stephen M. Peterson, she was a federal
prisoner at the jail from April 2000 through March 13, 2001. The claim,
filed earlier this month, names Santa Fe County, Texas-based Cornell Cos.,
which operates the jail under contract with the county, Trujillo, and the
unidentified employee as potential defendants of a lawsuit. Valdez was
interviewed by Santa Fe County sheriff's detectives about the complaints,
which lead to further harassment by another jail employee who was related to
her alleged attacker, the claim says. Valdez was then moved to a
facility in Sandoval County by the U.S. Marshals Service, which her attorney
said may lend credence to her claims. (Albuquerque Journal)

May 11, 2001
Carmen Jaramillo says she feared she would be raped or worse on March 10,
when she claims guards at Santa Fe County privately run jail forced her and
five other female prisoners to intermingle with male inmates.
Jaramillo, 37, of Santa Fe, said a male prisoner at the jail run by
Texas-based Cornell Companies told her it had been a long time since he had
been with a woman. He told her she was attractive and "kissed and
fondled" her, Jaramillo said. Jaramillo's attorneys, Cliff
McIntyre and Edward Chavez, said they plan to file a civil rights lawsuit against
Cornell and two guards on behalf of Jaramillo and two other women who were in
the jail on the night of the alleged incident. Paul Doucette, a
spokesperson for jail operator Cornell Companies, acknowledged Thursday that
male and female inmates had mixed on March 10 and 11. Chavez believes
the corrections officers didn't unlock the gate separating female and male
prisoners by accident. "The women were housed in a men's area;
that in itself is a violation of law," McIntyre said. Starting pay
for a new guard is $9.50 an hour, Doucette said. In recent months, the
jail has faced a series of problems, including an escape, flooding, a minor
disturbance among inmates and a lawsuit alleging a jail employee sexually
abused a woman while she was detained there in 1999. (Albuquerque
Journal)

April 17, 2001
Police charged a Santa Fe County jail inmate, a convicted murderer, in
connection with this past weekend's jail scuffle because he allegedly threw
an empty gas canister at the deputy warden's chest. Joe "Buzzard"
Everisto Gurule, 44, was charged Monday after he threw the can at Deputy
Warden Wilfred Romero during Saturday night's incident at the privately run
Cornell Companies Inc. jail. This was the second weekend that a part of the
jail has been on lockdown because of an incident there. Inmates were
participating in Easter festivities at the jail before the incident occurred
about 10 p.m., when they were supposed to go back to their cells, Cornell
spokesperson Paul Doucette said. Inmates were forced back into their
cells about midnight and helped clean up after throwing food trays, books and
signs, he said. About 60 inmates--some of whom were involved in last
summer's Rio Arriba County jail riot--took part in Saturday's incident and
were placed in lockdown. (The Santa Fe New Mexican)

April 14, 2001
One of the three federal inmates who escaped last weekend from the Santa Fe
County jail promised a guard $3,000 to smuggle in hacksaw blades and let them
use his cell phone to arrange a getaway, court documents say. U.S.
Marshals arrested Lawrence Candelaria, 43, of Las Vegas, N.M., on Wednesday
and charged him with aiding or abetting escape. The inmates used a
hacksaw, hammer and chisel to break a window and saw through a metal bar
while Candelaria turned on exhaust fans to drown out the noise, an affidavit
states. The jail is privately run by Cornell Companies, Inc., of
Houston. Other guards helped the inmates obtain the tools to escape,
one escapee had told Candelaria, according to the affidavit. (Santa Fe
New Mexican)

April 13, 2001
A Santa Fe County jail guard has been arrested on charges that he was to be
paid $3,000 to help three federal inmates who escaped from that lockup
Saturday. Lawrence Candelaria, 43, of Las Vegas, N.M., is charged with
aiding and abetting an escape. Court documents obtained by The Journal
said the investigation revealed Candelaria allegedly smuggled in three
hacksaw blades and gave them to one of the inmates, let one of the inmates
use his cellular phone to arrange Saturday's escape, and created diversions
while the inmates cut and pounded their way out. The investigation also
revealed that the night of the escape, Candelaria was working in the control
booth and allegedly turned on exhaust fans at Tijerina's request as a diversion
as the inmates sawed and pounded away, according to the affidavit. (ABQ
Journal)

April 11, 2001
The weekend escape of three federal inmates from Santa Fe County's jail is
giving local government officials financial jitters. The U.S. Marshals
Service on Monday considered moving its inmates out, acting U.S. Marshal Tom
Bustamante said. The federal contract is a lucrative, but needed,
benefit for the county government's $22 million jail. At $65 a day for
each inmate, the feds pay Santa Fe County about $4 million each year to house
convicts and defendants awaiting trial. Bustamante and other officials
met with Cornell representatives Monday to determine the severity of problems
at the jail. The prevailing problem, Bustamante said, is that inmates
who stay locked inside for more than a year stand a good chance of creating
problems -- be it abusing guards or escaping. Inmates who stay confined
in the same jail for months on end "start to develop
relationships," Bustamante said. Had the decision come down to
transfer all of the federal prisoners, the Marshals Service would have faced
another question -- where to send them? Every other New Mexico jail
with which the Marshals Service has contracted has experienced similar
problems, Bustamante said. "Cornell is not the only facility where
we've had problems," Bustamante said. (ABQ Journal)

April 11, 2001
Builders of the $22 million Santa Fe County jail assured officials before it
opened more than two years ago that an inch-thick window in the jail would withstand
up to 20 minutes of pounding with a sledge hammer, Sheriff Ray Sisneros said.
Three inmates broke the window with a hammer and a metal punch to escape
Saturday, jail officials have said. The jail has "a serious design flaw
that shouldn't have happened," Sisneros said Tuesday. The jail was
built by an Austin, Texas, construction company, Landmark Organization Inc.
Santa Fe County contracted with Houston-based Cornell Companies to build and
operate the jail, and Cornell subcontracted with Landmark for construction.
The U.S. Marshals Service, which leases 170 of the jail's beds for federal
prisoners, announced it was moving 19 inmates who have been jailed there for
more than a year. Senior Warden Lawrence Barreras said Tuesday the
action was prompted by Saturday night's escape. (AP)

April 10, 2001
Santa Fe County jail officials said Monday a staff member probably gave three
escaped inmates the tools to break out. The officials also called the
jail one of the most problem-riddled correctional facilities run by Cornell
Companies. The facility has no alarms, and a 14-foot chain-link with
barbed wire serves as a parameter fence, not to detain inmates. (Santa
Fe New Mexican)

April 10, 2001
Jail staff was probably involved in the weekend escape of three federal
inmates from the Santa Fe County Detention Center, an incident Cornell
Companies Vice President Gary Henman said Monday was the "most serious
introduction of escape tools" in his 38-year career in
corrections. "We can't pass the buck here," Henman said at a
morning news conference. "It's definitely a problem of our
internal facility." Authorities continued Monday to hunt for the
escapees and the means by which they obtained the tools they used to saw
their way out of the county jail Saturday night. (ABQ Journal)

April 9, 2001
An investigation into the escape of three federal inmates from the privately
run Santa Fe County Detention Center late Saturday focused on how the
prisoners got access to the tools they used in their breakout, authorities said
Sunday. Saturday's escape was the latest in a series of publicized
problems at the county lockup, which also serves as a holding facility for
federal prisoners. Santa Fe County Sheriff Ray Sisneros said his office
was taking the lead in the investigation and was working with the U.S.
Marshal's Service and Cornell Cos. to determine how the escapees obtained a
hacksaw, a hammer and a metal punch. "It's obvious that they had
help of some kind," said Sisneros. "We always look at the
possibility of an inside job, but we don't know yet." Saturday's
was the first escape from the county jail since Cornell assumed operation
three years ago, but it's not the first escape by a federal prisoner in the
company's custody. Byron Shane Chubbuck, a convicted bank robber,
escaped from a Cornell transport van Dec. 21 in Albuquerque on his way back
to the Santa Fe County jail after a court hearing. (ABQ Journal)

April 4, 2001
Since it opened three years ago, Santa Fe County's privately run jail hasn't
exactly been a trouble-free operation. Early on, there were complaints
from defense attorneys and others about possible civil rights violations at
the jail, which is run by the Texas-based Cornell Companies. Safety
also was an issue at one point there were complaints that violent, hard-core
criminals were housed with people held for minor or nonviolent crimes.
For most of the past three years, the city of Santa Fe has been squabbling
with county and Cornell officials over the cost of housing city prisoners at
the jail. In December, the County Commission forked over a
half-million-dollar increase in Cornell's budget an adjustment apparently
connected to the ongoing dispute over how much
public agencies should pay for prisoner housing. But the city has
decided to send its prisoners somewhere cheaper. County officials, who
under state law are required to keep close tabs on privately run jails, have
not been particularly zealous in pursuit of this duty. Last year, a
state district judge had to order a grand jury review of jail operations
because the required county report on jail conditions was months
overdue. Just recently, there have been allegations of sexual
misconduct on the part of guards, and of sex between inmates. And in
the past month, one jail guard has been arrested for trying to smuggle a
Baggie of marijuana into the jail and another was arrested for beating an
inmate. In view of the seriousness of the most recent incidents and the
upcoming decision about who will run the jail for
the next three years it's about time the county took a hard look at the jail
and the company that has been running it. Santa Fe County Sheriff Ray
Sisneros has started the task. Last week, Sisneros confirmed that he
has assigned a detective to the jail full-time to investigate conditions
there. A national organization that reviews private prisons and jails
is scheduled to make a visit soon, too. Such scrutiny may lead to
improvement. A just-appointed citizens
oversight committee can't hurt, either. The committee will begin its
task in the fall, after the County Commission has chosen a new jail operator
from the three companies, including Cornell, that have submitted bids.
County officials have been saying they may be ready to award the bid as early
as next month. But under the circumstances, the commissioners should be
in no hurry. To be fair to the three companies, including Cornell, they
should postpone any decision on the bid until the investigation and
accreditation reviews are completed.

April 1, 2001
Workers for the Texas-based firm that hopes to continue operating the Santa
Fe County jail for another three years are the target of a full-time
investigation for criminal wrongdoing. County Sheriff Ray Sisneros, who
monitors the jail, confirmed Thursday he has assigned one of his detectives
to the Santa Fe County Detention Center on a full-time basis. The
investigation was prompted, Sisneros said, by two events in the past month:
allegations that one guard tried to sneak a Baggie of marijuana into the
jail, and another guard was arrested and charged with beating an
inmate. The jail operator, Cornell Companies, formerly Cornell
Corrections, is in the final leg of its three-year contract with Santa Fe
County. The requirements for Cornell guards, known as "detention
officers," are similar to their counterparts in the state Corrections
Department. Training, however, differs somewhat. The Corrections
Department puts its applicants through a 7-week-long academy, which some
other private correction firms in the complete, state officials said.
Cornell puts its applicants through two weeks of classroom instruction and
another two weeks of supervised on-the-job training, Cornell Spokesperson
Paul Doucette said. Cornell does not send its trainees through the
state corrections academy. (Privateer News II and AP)

April 1, 2001
Allegations of a drug smuggling attempt and an inmate beating have prompted
the sheriff to launch a criminal investigation into activities at the
privately operated Santa Fe County Detention Center. Sheriff Ray
Sisneros has assigned a detective to the center on a full-time basis.
Sisneros is particularly suspicious of allegations that a guard tried to
sneak a small bag of marijuana into the jail and the arrest of another guard
who allegedly beat an inmate. The jail is operated by Cornell Companies
of Houston. In addition to the investigation, County Manager Sam
Montoya has asked jail management to improve training for guards. ( AP)

March 22, 2001
A Santa Fe County jail guard has been fired for allegedly agreeing to take
$70 to sneak a bag of marijuana into the
Cornell run jail for an inmate. (AP, March 22, 2001)

March 21 ,2001
Three women locked up last year at the Santa Fe County jail have filed a
federal lawsuit alleging a "malicious and sadistic" guard sexually
abused them. The women sued Trujillo, Senior Warden Lawrence Barreras and
Cornell Cos. of Houston formerly known as Cornell Corrections, which operates
the jail under a contract with the county. The lawsuit seeks compensatory and
punitive damages for pain and emotional distress. Romero alleges in the
lawsuit that Trujillo touched her genitals and asked her for sex. Gallegos
alleges he asked her to show her breasts, which she did twice, and that
touched her genitals under her clothes. Martinez alleges Trujillo attacked
her in a section of the booking are not visible to surveillance cameras.
Trujillo remains employed by the jail, and there have been no other
allegations of misconduct against him, Doucette said. Meanwhile the Sheriff's
Department is investigating whether jail officers let female inmates into the
same cell with her boyfriend, also an inmate on March 10 and 11, and whether
other inmates had sex at the jail. Gilliland said two guards have been fired
in the last few weeks. He would no release their names or say whether they
were fired in connection with the allegations. (AP)

March 10, 2001
A man who pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of a homeless man in
October was incorrectly released from jail Thursday by Cornell Corrections
Inc., which runs the Santa Fe jail. Santa Fe police fear that the man, Luis
Lopez-Cota, 24, may flee the area. "We were notified late Friday evening
and learned he was released," said santa Fe Deputy Police Beverly
Lennen. "We are working with Cornell staff and the district attorney's
office to determine why and how he was released." Lopez-Cota pleaded
guilty to murdering Cruz Montez Montoya, 34, in October in an outdoor
drinking spot near the Santa Fe rail yard. Police said Lopez-Cota is
considered dangerous and people should not approach him. (The New Mexican)

March 6, 2001
Former guard Christopher Grule found himself on the wrong side of a cell door
Friday after his arrest on charges he beat an inmate who was later stitched
up at the hospital, according to a Santa Fe County sheriff's report.
According to court documents, Gurule used his body to push Chatman into a
cider-block wall in the jail's booking area, where Gurule was working as a
booking officer. Gurule held Chatman against the wall and the slammed his
head into it, giving Chatman a 1 1/2-inch cut to his right eyebrow, the
document state. "The injury bled excessively," court documents
state." Gurule forced Mr. Chatman to the concrete floor, lying onto his
stomach. Gurule then stomped his foot into the center of Mr. Chatman's back
approximately two three times. While on the floor, Chatman pleaded with
Gurule because he couldn't breathe, but Gurule continued to apply pressure to
Chatman's back, the documents indicate. Chatman was handcuffed behind his back.
Another detention officer, Muriah Townsend,
reported telling Gurule to release his hold on Chatman, whom Townsend
reported as having difficulty to breathe, court document state. Jamie
Neal-Barone, another Cornell employee who saw the attack described Gurule as
aggressive. (Albuquerque Journal)

February 09, 2001
One of the heads of the Santa Fe County Jail was the guard who bank robber
Byron Shane Chubbuck accused of brutality and corruption. Chubbuck accused
Romero of abusing inmates and selling Chubbuck a handcuff key he used in a
Dec. 21 escape from a prison transport van. (Albuquerque Journal)

December 27, 2001
Federal law officers hunting for escaped bank robber Byron Shane Chubbuck say
they have received some solid tips that lead them to believe he is still in
the Albuquerque area. Tom Bustamante the acting U.S. Marshal for New Mexico, said the U.S. Marshals Service also is checking
with law agencies across New Mexico to determine if Chubbuck has committed
any new crimes. Chubbuck escaped from a prisoners transport van just before 5
p.m.. Thursday at Second Montano NW. Bustamante has
said--Chubbuck who dubbed "Robin the Hood" by the FBI. He used a
key to free himself from his restraints. An investigation into how Chubbuck
got the key is still continuing. Chubbuck was being housed at the Santa Fe
County Detention Center, and escape took place as he and some other federal
prisoners were being returned to Santa FE after court hearings in
Albuquerque. As Chubbuck bolted from the Cornell Corrections Inc. transport
van, Bustamante said, the two private guards in that van chased him and fired
several shots with their duty handguns.
Chubbock injured his right hand during or after the escape, but authorities
aren't sure if the wound was caused by the gunfire. (Albuquerque Journal)

December 23, 2000
A convicted bank robber dubbed "Robin the Hood" used a key to free
himself from his restraints before escaping from a prisoner transport van, a
federal law enforcement officer said. He freed himself from his restraints,
kicked out a window in the van and ran away. Authorities said at least one of
the two guards in the transport van fired at Chubbuck after the escape.
(Albuquerque Journal)

November 22, 2000
Late reporting by Santa Fe County officials on conditions at the local jail
has led to a District Court grand jury tour of the facility. Chief District
Judge Michael Vigil, who said Tuesday he has grown tired of reminding Santa
Fe County lawmakers to inspect their jail twice a year, asked the sitting
grand jury to determine if local inmates were receiving proper medical and
nutritional treatment. "I have to remind all the county governments of
their responsibilities, "Vigil said, referring to Santa Fe and other
area jails. "They have failed to do timely
reports." Some of the loudest concerns have been voiced by Commissioner
Duran, who has called for public oversight of the jail and noted in the
county report that holding cells were overcrowded. He also said inmates in
solitary confinement are not receiving adequate representation.
"Occasionally, we still have problems getting people released in a
timely matter." (Albuquerque Journal)

October 16, 2000
City council planned to create oversight board to examine problems at jail
has met opposition from county commissioners. City councilor Frank Montano, a
critic of the jail, says residents routinely complained to him about the
conditions at the jail. (AP)

October 10, 2000
In an effort to "take the mystery out of our operations" Cornell
launched a public-relations program the company calls a "bold new communications initiative." What were they
hiding? Recently the county announced it was putting out to bid the jail
contact. Shortly after opening the jail became the subject of intense
criticism from lawyers and judges for allegedly taking too long to release
inmates, for allegedly mishandling inmate
medicine and for not allowing attorneys to meet with inmates. Earlier this
year Santa Fe councilors blasted Cornell for allegedly overcharging the city.
(Santa Fe New Mexican, Oct.11, 2000)

Questions are raised about
Cornell's operations of the detention center by human rights, civil rights
and equal rights advocates. One inmate didn't have toilet paper for 12
hours in his holding cell at least two times. (Santa Fe New Mexican, August
29, 2000)

Santa Fe County Juvenile Detention CenterSanta Fe, New Mexico
Management and Training Corporation (formerly run by Cornell)
March 22, 2004Sixteen-year-old Heather was at the end of her
rope. She couldn't leave the house without being followed by her probation
officer or her mother. The therapy, supervision and detention time she was
assigned after repeated runaway attempts made her feel crazy. She grew more angry, more rebellious. So she ran away again.
This time making it to the East Coast, where she spent most of her teenage
years living on the streets, alternately shooting heroin, smoking crack and
thinking about coming home. If she hadn't been afraid of getting put
back in the system in Santa Fe, she would have made the hard trip back to
real life sooner than she did. She's now 21, living at home with her mom,
attending college, holding down a full-time job and visiting a counselor when
she can't quite wrap her mind around it all. But Heather, who didn't
want her real name published, believes a different approach by the
juvenile-justice system could have helped her sooner. People, like her,
with a turbulent youth might have better odds of staying out of serious
trouble if officials in Santa Fe County succeed in diverting more teenage offenders
before they grow into adult criminals. Dozens of teens are booked into
the county's juvenile-detention center each month for relatively minor
offenses, such as shoplifting, to crimes as serious as murder. Instead of
leaving the care and rehabilitation of wayward youngsters to a private
company -- like Santa Fe County has done for more than 20 years -- the county
is playing a more direct role and is looking at different ways to deal with
juvenile delinquency. The county's takeover of daily operations doesn't
mean immediate, drastic change. But officials say some changes are on the way
that could reduce the number of youths who spend time in lockup and offer
young offenders more interaction with the community. The former county
jail on Airport Road is a place no one likes to refer to by that name
anymore. The j-word is practically banned from the building, whose sign out
front declares its formal name as the Santa Fe County Youth Development
Program. Cornell Companies began its tenure running the program with an
in-your-face style that many referred to as their "boot camp"
model. Over the years, however, the focus has shifted to less abrasive
treatment. The people who are housed there are no longer called
prisoners or inmates. They are residents, clients or kids. They don't sleep
in cells but have quiet time in their bar-doored rooms. The people watching
over them on the inside aren't guards, but life-skills workers. Despite
the sign and the jargon, the barbed-wire perimeter allows no mistaking -- it's
still a jail. These adolescents, however, are increasingly viewed as in need
of programs and not punishment. "Children are still-developing
human beings, and society owes children an opportunity to become healthy
adults," said Judge Barbara Vigil, who handles juvenile-delinquency
cases for the state's 1st Judicial District. "The juvenile system is a
system that takes this role very seriously. We're trying to modify behavior
so they become law-abiding citizens." Shifting focus After Cornell
decided not to continue its contract this summer, Santa Fe County officials
said they could save money and offer more alternatives by running the
facility themselves rather than contracting with what would have been a third
consecutive private operator. So about 60 people who had worked for the
program under Cornell became county employees, a handful of sheriff's
deputies and a county administrator made offices in the building, and the
county reclaimed all responsibilities at the facility. Cornell, a
nationwide private-prison operator that also ran the local adult jail for
several years, employed boot-camp tactics at the youth detention center for
roughly the first four years it ran the program, according to program
director Chris Sanchez. The strict regimen and confrontational style was not
well received by the community and didn't seem to make great strides with
teenagers. Heather was in and out of the lockup during those years as
she struggled with a drinking problem that was out of control by the time she
was 15. "I was pretty scared. It startled me that I had ... even
gotten myself into that place," she said. "Every time I went there
I was terrified. ... (Jail workers) would get in your face and scream until
they made you cry or you would scream back. "I just kept to myself
and kept my mouth shut, but I'd watch these other kids get ripped to shreds.
It just didn't seem helpful to me." (The New Mexican)

January 30, 2004Santa Fe County has taken charge of its own
juvenile-detention program, launching a county Corrections Department that
could signal a shift in philosophy for dealing with young law-breakers.
Cornell Companies had run the youth lockup for about five years before
turning over operations to the county early Thursday morning. The company
said this summer it would not seek to renew its contract because high
overhead and a low population made it unprofitable. After only one
company bid on the new contract, the County Commission voted to have county
workers operate the facility instead of farming out the work to the private
sector. (The New Mexican)

January 8, 2004
About 60 people who currently work at the Santa Fe County Youth Detention
Center will have a chance to become county employees when the government
takes over the youth jail from a private contractor later this month.
Cornell Companies announced this summer it would not renew its contract to
operate the 128-bed facility, which it has operated for about five years.
Last month, the County Commission voted not to contract another private operator.
(Santa Fe New Mexican)

December 19, 2003
After a 20-year hiatus, Santa Fe County will take over its juvenile detention
center at an annual cost of $4.2 million. On Tuesday, the Santa Fe
County Commission by a unanimous vote approved a measure to allow Sheriff
Greg Solano to oversee the jail. The move puts an end to the county's
practice of hiring a private firm to operate the facility. As part of
the cost to take over the jail Jan. 29, the county plans to partner with
Bernalillo County, which will consult and give direction on how to operate
the facility at a cost of $100,000. Bernalillo County also assists Valencia
County with its facility, said County Manager Gerald Gonzalez.
"This is to help the youth of Santa Fe County and the regional
area," Commissioner Mike D. Anaya said. "It's our responsibility as
the county to operate this facility." The county chose to take
over the jail because the county's current contractor, Cornell Companies
Inc., will stop running the facility on Jan. 28. The company is ending
a three-year relationship with the county because of money. Cornell officials
claim the company has lost money because the facility has not been full.
Cornell also did not want to renew its contract because the county was
seeking to increase the rent. (ABQ Journal)

December 19, 2003
How the Santa Fe County Juvenile Detention Center is operated on Jan. 28
could be decided today by the County Commission. The five-member
commission will be presented with three options for running the 57-bed juvenile
center once Cornell Companies Inc. pulls out Jan. 27. Options include
closing the facility, hiring another private contractor to run it or having
the county take over the facility, County Manager
Gerald Gonzalez said. "We have a time deadline associated with
that facility because the current operator's contract ends in January,"
Gonzalez said. Gonzalez said he is hopeful the elected officials will
make a decision on how to best operate the facility. The commission meets at
1 p.m. today in the commission chamber. "It's critical we get a
decision (today)," he said. As of Monday evening, Gonzalez said
his staff had not yet completed the final details of each option or the cost
associated with each alternative. He said a full explanation and costs of each
option would be presented to the commission during the public meeting.
Gonzalez said county staff has been researching the options for about a
month. In that time, the county has also solicited bids for a private
contractor to operate the facility. This work had to be done because
Cornell Companies Inc. notified the county in August it would terminate its
contract to run the juvenile jail. The company has operated the facility for
the past three years. Cornell is ending the relationship with the
county; it is claiming it has lost money because the facility has not been
full. Cornell also did not want to renew its contract because the county was
seeking to increase rent. If the commission decides to close the
facility, Gonzalez said the county would then look at other facilities in
nearby counties where juveniles could be sent. The closest juvenile
centers are in Valencia County and in Tucumcari, he said. The
commission could also choose to hire another private company to run the
facility. Gonzalez said Correctional Services Corp. has submitted a proposal
to the county to operate the facility. The third option is for the
county to operate the facility itself. Currently, the county does not run any
of its detention centers. The adult jail is operated by Management &
Training Corp., a Utah firm. (ABQ Journal)

November 15, 2003
Santa Fe County has a little more than two months to find a new company to
operate its juvenile detention center. Earlier this month, the county
opened up its process to find a company to replace Cornell Companies Inc. The
firm notified the county it will terminate its contract at the end of
January. Greg Parrish, county correctional service manager, said the
county is in the process of taking bids from companies interested in operating
the facility. Companies interested in running the jail need to submit a plan
to the county by 3 p.m. Dec. 9. "We are under a time crunch,"
Parrish said. "We need to move forward very quickly and get a new
operator on board." Cornell's decision to terminate its contract
with the county happened two years after the Texas-based company stopped
operating county's adult jail. Cornell notified the county in August
that it would terminate its contract to run the juvenile jail. The company
has run the youth facility for three years. Cornell is terminating its
contract— to the surprise of county officials— because the company is losing
money, said Paul Doucette, Cornell vice president. The bottom line is
also why Cornell in August 2001 decided to no longer operate the county's
adult jail. Doucette said the 670-bed facility never operated at capacity and
Cornell exited a three-year contract for the adult jail at an overall
loss. In the past two years, Doucette said Cornell has experienced
similar results with operating the 57-bed juvenile center. "The
population at the facility has not been full," Doucette said. "The
rent was going to be so high next year that it was going to be tough to
sustain the programs we offer at the jail." Before Cornell decided
to end its contract, the company attempted to negotiate a new contract with
the county with the hopes of getting a better deal on the rent, he
said. Doucette said the county was unwilling to negotiate a lower lease
agreement and that led to the decision to terminate the contract. Doucette
would not reveal the price the company was trying to negotiate. The
county pays a daily rate to Cornell for each youth, but the contract requires
Cornell to pay $25,000 in rent each month and waive the daily fee for 8.25 beds
per month. (ABQ Journal)

September 3, 2003
A former corrections officer at the Santa Fe County Youth Development Program
who pleaded guilty to raping a juvenile inmate will be released on house
arrest and must undergo additional psychological evaluation before
sentencing, state District Judge Michael Vigil ruled Tuesday. John
Robertson, 39, pleaded guilty last week to two felony sex crimes for having
intercourse with a 16-year-old girl at the facility. Vigil said he
ordered the additional report because an existing evaluation on Robertson did
not test extensively enough to determine whether he is a sexual predator or a
pedophile. Robertson had worked as a corrections officer at the
county's adult jail for more than two years before moving to youth facility,
where he worked for about a year and a half before the incident, according to
Paul Doucette, vice president for public affairs with private jail-operator
Cornell Companies Inc. Doucette said Cornell did a background check on
Robertson that did not indicate a past history of any kind of offense.
(Santa Fe New Mexican)

September 2, 2003
A former corrections officer at Santa Fe County’s youth jail pleaded guilty
Friday to criminal charges for having sex with a juvenile inmate at the
facility this spring. John Robertson, 39, is scheduled for sentencing
at 4 p.m. Tuesday in state District Court in Santa Fe pending Judge Michael
Vigil’s review of a psychological evaluation. Assistant district attorney
Barbara Romo said Robertson could be sentenced to up to six years in prison
for criminal sexual contact and attempted criminal sexual penetration of a
minor. Robinson told police he had a sexual encounter with a
16-year-old girl who was in his keep at the Santa Fe County Youth Development
Program on March 31, according to court records. Romo said the former guard
had the encounter in the female unit of the jail’s detention wing. A
nurse-examiner later that day found evidence of sexual intercourse, court
records show. (The New Mexican)

August 31, 2002
Santa Fe County could lose up to $300,000 under an amended contract to run
the Santa Fe County Youth Development Program, but county officials say the
risk is worth it to keep Cornell Companies Inc. on board. County Finance
Director Katherine Miller said the number of juveniles at the facility has
decreased from an average of about 100 a day last year to about 70 a day this
year, making the jail less profitable. Cornell officials told county
officials they weren't making enough money and wouldn't renew the contract in
October unless the county renegotiated, Miller said. Under a contract
amendment approved by the County Commission on Tuesday, the county will
decrease the amount of money it charges Cornell to lease the facility. In
return, Cornell will house 81/4 inmates for free every day and will only
charge the county $100 a day for every inmate over that number, Miller said.
The difference works out to $300,000 in Cornell's favor, Miller said, but
there is a chance the county will be able to recoup that money. The agreement
also includes a provision that says the county will receive 25 percent of all
the money Cornell receives in excess of $4.2 million a year, Miller said. In
March, Cornell laid off 14 employees because the inmate population was down
40 percent, Miller said. (Privateer News)

August 19, 2003
Cornell Companies Inc. has decided against seeking renewal of its contract to
run Santa Fe County's juvenile jail. "We've been negotiating with
the county for some time, and it was obvious we weren't going to be able to
reach an agreement," Paul Doucette, vice president of public affairs for
the Texas-based company, said Monday. Cornell, which has managed the
jail for about five years, sent a letter to the county last month saying it
would let its contract expire at the end of October. Cornell has been
struggling with high overhead costs and a small population in the jail,
Doucette said. The amount of rent the company paid the county was not
justified by the number of prisoners in the jail, he said. The county
pays a daily rate to the company for each youth, but the contract requires
Cornell to pay $25,000 in rent each month and waive the daily fee for 8.25
beds per month. The county wanted more free beds for the same amount of
rent, and Cornell sought to maintain the current agreement or decrease the
number of free beds, said Stephen Ross, county attorney. (AP)

August 14, 2003
A 19-year-old federal inmate at the Santa Fe County juvenile jail is under
investigation for threatening a 14-year-old male inmate "with physical
harm" in order to get oral sex, according to a report from the Santa Fe
County Sheriff's Department. The investigation was initiated after staff
members at the jail observed the suspect and the alleged victim in a room
together without authorization, according to the report. Solano said it
is not uncommon for adults who were sentenced to spend time at the juvenile
jail before their 18th birthday to spend time there as an inmate. However,
adults who spend time at the juvenile jail after they turn 18 must have a
judge's permission to do so, Solano said. (ABQ Journal)

June 20, 2001
A security consultant will visit the Santa Fe County juvenile detention
center to assess Monday's escape by a 17-year-old, who climbed over a
20-foot, barbed wire-topped fence, a jail official said Tuesday. Gary
Miller, senior division director for Cornell Companies, said Tuesday that the
security consultant will determine whether the juvenile jail needs to be made
more secure, or whether Monday night's escape is an aberration.
Houston-based Cornell Companies operates both the Santa Fe County juvenile
jail and the adult jail. (Albuquerque Journal)

June 19, 2001
A 17-year-old prisoner escaped from the Santa Fe County juvenile detention
center around 6:40 p.m. Monday by climbing over a 20-foot-high
chain-link fence topped with barbed wire, according to Santa Fe County
Sheriff's Department. Montano said Haws apparently climbed the fence in
an outdoor area of the detention center known as a "bullpen" when
the guards weren't looking. "When the staff turned its back he
climbed over the top and took off," Montano said. Paul Doucette, a
spokesperson for Cornell Cos., a Texas-based company that runs the juvenile
jail, said the fence manufacturer touts the fence as "unclimbable"
and claims a university climbing team could not scale it. (Albuquerque
Journal)

April 6, 2001
A San Miguel County woman and her daughter have sued the privately run
Cornell Youth Detention Center in Santa Fe alleging an employee at the center
sexually abused the younger woman while she was detained there in 1999.
The lawsuit alleges Campbell violated Maria Carreon's civil rights by
subjecting her to cruel and unusual punishment. Campbell kissed, bit
and sexually touched her in her cell, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit
also alleges that Cornell failed in its training and supervision of personnel
at the juvenile facility and that both county commission
failed in their responsibility toward inmates there. But as result of
Carreon's complaint in 1999, Campbell was investigated and fired for
non-criminal misconduct unrelated to Carreon's complaint, spokesperson for
Cornell Paul Doucette said. Cornell Corrections' operations
of the adult jail, an operation separate from the juvenile facility, is
already under scrutiny by Santa Fe County Sheriff Ray Sisneros.
(Albuquerque Journal)

Santa Rosa, New MexicoTransCor/CCAOctober 13, 1999
A convicted murderer from North Dakota en route to Oregon used a handcuff key
smuggled in his shoe to unlock his handcuffs, climb through an air vent and
escape from a secure transport van operated by TransCor, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Corrections Corp. of America. Although the escaped occurred
around 4:00 a.m., it wasn’t reported to police until 3:00 p.m. - 11 hours
after the fact. (Albuquerque Journal, 10/14/1999)

Smith's Food and DrugBernalillo, New Mexico
Priority One
November 19, 2003
A woman with developmental disabilities was unfairly targeted as a shoplifter
at Smith's Food and Drug, and her mother was slammed to the floor after
coming to her aid, a lawsuit says. The same guard at an unlicensed
security firm targeted the women more than a week later when they tried to
fill a prescription at a different Smith's store, the lawsuit alleges.
The Smith's store manager at Carlisle and Menaul NE where the first incident
occurred referred questions to corporate offices and to Priority One, the
allegedly unlicensed firm that provides store security. But the manager,
Roger Flenniken, said shoplifting is a problem at the store and one that
management takes seriously. (AQBQ Journal)

Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Aramark
June 19, 2012 Albuquerque Journal
The food services contractor employee who was caught trying to bring drugs to
a Las Cruces inmate was arrested this afternoon, officials said. Candace
Holmes, 20, an Aramark employee, was arrested at about 1:30 p.m. without
incident, according to a news release from the Corrections Department. She
was caught attempting to smuggle 26 grams of cocaine and 46 grams of heroin
into Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility. She was allegedly working
with 31-year-old Frank Morales Jr., who Holmes said was her fiance. Police
said she voluntarily surrendered the drugs on Friday. Holmes is charged with
two counts each of trafficking, conspiracy to traffic and bringing contraband
into a prison facility, the release said. She is being held at the Dona Ana
County Detention Center.

A food contract worker at the
Torrance County Detention Center has been charged with more than two dozen
sex crimes with an inmate at the privately run prison in Estancia. Wendy
Moore, 41, has been charged with 24 counts of criminal sexual penetration and
three counts of attempting to commit criminal sexual penetration. The charges
were filed in Torrance County Magistrate Court on May 22. The criminal
complaint in the case is vague, offering few insights into what had occurred
at the prison. On 24 counts, the complaint simply states that Moore had
allegedly forced an inmate into performing sexual acts. An additional three
counts allege attempts at sexual acts. Officials at the prison, owned and
operated by Corrections Corporation of America, say they moved quickly when
the allegations came to light. "On the same day that the allegation of
sexual abuse was made, facility leadership barred (Moore) from entering the
facility until the allegations could be fully investigated," said CCA
Public Affairs Director Jonathan Burns. "Facility staff
have cooperated fully with the Estancia Police Department's
investigation, and we support full prosecution under the law for any
confirmed criminal acts." Burns went on to say that CCA takes any and
all allegations of mistreatment seriously. "The safety and security of
our facilities and the inmates entrusted to our care is our top priority. CCA
has a strict zero-tolerance policy toward sexual abuse and we take any
allegation seriously. Our actions in this matter reflect that commitment,"
Burns said. Moore would not comment when reached by phone. A preliminary
hearing in the case has not yet been scheduled.